


Harry Potter and the Endless Night

by DarklordPeverell



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, Dark Harry, F/M, Goblet of Fire AU, Lich Harry, Magic, Marriage Contracts, Necromancer Harry Potter, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Politics, Powerful Harry, Undead Harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:55:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27064507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarklordPeverell/pseuds/DarklordPeverell
Summary: Abandoned by his friends and his house after his selection in The Triwizard Tournament, Harry takes refuge in the Chamber of Secrets where he finds a Dark and Sinister book whose contents have been long forbidden and whose origins predate The Hogwarts.Undead! Harry
Relationships: Daphne Greengrass/Harry Potter
Comments: 74
Kudos: 216





	1. Chamber of Secrets

Description: Abandoned by his friends and his house after his selection in The Triwizard Tournament, Harry takes refuge in the Chamber of Secrets where he finds a Dark and Sinister book whose contents have been long forbidden and whose origins predate The Hogwarts. Dark! Harry. Undead! Harry.

**Please read the Warnings**

Warnings: - 

  1. Harry in this fic will dabble in truly Dark Magic like Necromancy, Sacrificial Magic, and Mind Control among others.
  2. Harry in this fic will be very ambitious, ruthless, and cold-hearted and will undergo a massive personality change.
  3. Harry is not going to reconcile with Ron and Hermione.
  4. The pairing will be Harry/Daphne, but the romance will be very slow and is not the main plot of the story.
  5. This Harry will not have a likable view of Muggles. But he is not going to suddenly become a Dark Lord and slaughter all the Muggles. His view of Muggles will be similar to how Grindelwald viewed Muggles but without all the violence.
  6. Voldemort and Harry will still be enemies. Just because Harry dislikes Muggles does not mean they are allies.
  7. Dumbledore will not be a bad guy in this fic. But not a good one either. He will be morally gray just like how he was in the canon.
  8. This Dark Harry will be more like a Ravenclaw and less like a Slytherin.
  9. I am not a native English speaker, so please forgive any grammatical mistakes.



  
  
  


**Chapter 1: Chamber of Secrets.**

Harry walked in a daze. Just a few hours ago the Goblet of Fire had spit out his name as the Fourth Champion of the Triwizard Tournament. Just the name of the Tournament implied that there was not supposed to be a  _ Fourth Champion.  _ That was during breakfast and currently, it was evening. The Sky was tinged red by the setting sun.

None of his friends or housemates believed him. He did not have many expectations from his housemates but he had at least expected Ron and Hermione to stand by him. All of them including Ron and Hermione had accused Harry of putting his name in the Goblet. Not all of the accusations were verbal. While Ron was shouting at him, Hermione had leveled her silent judging stare at him as if she knew him.

Dean and Seamus were in full support of Ron and were accusing him as well. For the rest of the Gryffindor House, the lesser it was said the better it was. Even his Quidditch teammates did not believe him. Fred and George while not angry at him for putting his name in the Goblet, were asking him how he managed to accomplish such a task. He left the Dorms after that and was roaming endlessly in the corridors after that. 

He also vividly remembered the reactions of the teachers as well. None of the Professors spoke for him. All of them looked at him with silent judging eyes. Snape was even worse. He accused him of putting his name in the Goblet to earn Glory just like his father would have.

Harry was now walking in the direction of Chamber of Secrets. He needed some quiet and Chamber of Secrets was the best place for that. He checked around to make sure no one was following him and then spoke the word  _ Open  _ in Parseltongue.

He entered the Chamber and walked on the path with snakeheads on both sides and came to the opening from where the Basilisk had come. He also avoided the massive corpse of the Basilisk by walking around it. The opening looked like the mouth of an ancient wizard, likely Salazar Slytherin.

He walked into the opening and continued through a dark tunnel with the only light being produced from his wand. The tunnel grew in width and eventually split into two parts. He first went to the left part and walked into what seemed like a massive chamber with lots of shed snakeskin. This Chamber seemed like a place where the Basilisk slept. There were also few animal bones lying around, likely from the animals that the Basilisk ate. There was nothing of interest here. So he walked back to where the path had split off and walked to the right path.

He continued to walk onto the right path and eventually came to halt as the path ended with a wall with two doors. Both the doors were open so he walked into the first one and saw that it was a massive room. The room had two parts. 

The first part of the room contained bookshelves that were full of books and tomes as well as a study table with a strange book lying on top of it. He mentally reminded himself to check the book out later. There was also a Potions cabinet near the study table with all the necessary Potion apparatus. There was also a raised stone platform nearby with a burner where Potions could be prepared. The second part of the room contained a bed as well as a table with 2 chairs near it. The room was completely made of stone. There was a door near the foot of the bed that led to another room. Harry walked into it and realized this was a room for taking bath. It contained a bathtub as well as a shower.

He came out of the bedroom and entered the second door on the wall. It was a massive room with strange patterns drawn at the edges of the room. There were also various characters written in a strange language Harry did not recognize at the edges of the room. There were various strange symbols on the four walls as well as the top of the room. All in all, Harry surmised this room was at least three times bigger than the bedroom. There was a shelf at the edge of the room with various substances Harry did not recognize.

Harry went back to the bedroom and sat down on the chair beside the study table where the strange book was kept. The book was completely black in color with its title in red letters, as if it was written with blood. It was titled “ **Immortuos Regula”.**

Its title looked dark and sinister. Before opening the book something came to Harry’s mind. He called Dobby and waited. With a pop sound, a weird looking house elf came into existence beside Harry and bounced on its feet.

“Did Master Harry need anything, Dobby is so happy Master Harry called him”, said the house-elf excitedly.

“Dobby can you check whether an object is cursed or not ?”, asked Harry quickly.

“Dobby can do, Master Harry. Dobby knows how to check for cursed objects”, explained Dobby.

“Dobby can you check whether this book in front of me is cursed or not ? ”. requested Harry with a serious face.

“Yes” replied Dobby and quickly cast a spell without incantation just like normally house-elves do.

“This is book is not cursed, Master Harry”. replied Dobby while bouncing on its feet. Harry felt relieved and started browsing the book. While browsing something came to his mind and he told Dobby to check all the objects in the current room as well the next room for curses as well as spells of malicious intent. Harry knew Tom Riddle must have come across both these rooms at least once and must have used them. He wouldn’t put it past the bastard to curse anything for the next occupier of the rooms. 

As Harry was browsing the book, he realized that this book was unlike anything he had ever come across. The Book was about the Undead Creatures and how to turn yourself into one.

The pages of the book were yellowed. This book was likely older than Harry could have imagined. The name of the author was on the first page of the book, Julius Aemilius.

The Book was about the ritual to turn yourself into an undead. It talked about how being undead was the best type of immortality that a wizard could achieve. But the surprising part was the fact that it talked about various other forms of immortality. It talked about how those forms of immortality were inferior compared to being in a state of undeath. The name of the ritual was the  **_Beginning of the Endless Night._ **

_ Undead are the most superior magical beings in this world. Being undead is a gift, not a curse.No Normal Wizard would ever be found praising the undead, however. Their pathetic lives spent in ignorance would never comprehend the advantages of unlife. Undead do not need to sleep or rest. They do not need to eat food as normal wizards do. They are immune to all magical and non-magical illness. They never age and  _ **_live forever_ ** _. A wizard that becomes undead is called a  _ **_Lich._ **

_ An undead wizard or a Lich has infinite stamina. A normal wizard would collapse after continuously casting spells for a few hours. A Lich would never experience such a thing. Being Undead means they will never feel exhaustion even after the continuous casting of spells for several days.  _

_ You might wonder then how do undead survive without food and live without exhaustion and have infinite stamina. The answer is simple. Undead are not Humans. They are  _ **_Magical Creatures_ ** _. A Normal Human sustains itself after consuming the energy derived from the foods and recover lost energy after rest.  _

_ Undead as the highest order legendary magical creature derive their energy directly from surrounding magic that encompasses the world. Their bodies absorb the magic that surrounds them and actively converts it into energy. _

_ Similar to how a pepper up potion removes exhaustion of normal wizards, the bodies of the Undead mimic this effect to a degree magnitudes higher than any potion could ever give to a wizard. The bodies of Undead do this continuously so they never feel tired. _

_ Undeads are not the only magical creature to live without food. Various low-level magical creatures are known to only consume food once a decade and many powerful ones only need to consume food once a century. The reason is that their bodies cannot convert magic into energy as efficiently as Undead, so they still need to consume food every few years. Undead are after all the only Legendary level magical creatures to ever exist. They are the Apex Predators. Many Powerful magical creatures could live without food easily for centuries if they go into hibernation.  _

It was at this point Harry suddenly stopped reading, and his thoughts ventured to Basilisk whose corpse lay just outside the tunnel he was in, slain by Harry’s own hand. If Harry’s guess was correct then the beast went into Hibernation just a few years after Salazar Slytherin died. He had only seen a few animal bones in the chamber the snake lived in. 

That was not enough food for a powerful magical beast. The only reason it survived to this day was it immediately went into hibernation after consuming the last food it had available, before being woken awake by Tom Riddle. Harry continued reading.

_ Undead are beings that live between life and death. They cannot be killed using normal magic. A Wizard becomes a Lich after separating their souls from their flesh and storing it in an Object. The Object need not be magical but should be sturdy. This Object is called  _ **_Phylactery._ ** _ When a Wizard becomes a Lich no part of the soul is left inside the body after the body turns Undead. _

_ As long as the Phylactery is safe from harm, even if the body is completely destroyed with not even atoms of it left. The Body of the Lich will be reborn completely in its adult size and all its magical abilities as well as memories intact at the time of death. This is because the complete soul in Phylactery contains all of the information required to construct a Body which entails the size of the body, magical abilities as well as the most important detail which is Memories. _

_ Being a Lich would not be very useful if you lost all your memories after being reborn. You would be a child in an Adult body. Imagine being a Lich and studying magic for centuries and then dying due to some unforeseen reason, and then being reborn as a child with centuries of magical knowledge lost. Being a Lich wouldn’t be an appealing option then. _

_ As long as Phylactery is unharmed, a Lich is reborn in 2 days with their bodies completely healthy near the Phylactery. So even if you died very far away from where you have stored your Phylactery your body will be reborn near where your Phylactery is stored. That’s why it is recommended to store your Phylactery where there would be no inconvenience after being reborn. I have heard of Liches storing their Phylactery at the bottom of the ocean, while being a very good hiding place, no one would want to be reborn at the bottom of the ocean.  _

_ Of course, there are other methods of immortality available, but all of them are inferior to being Undead. The First Method that could be considered an alternative to being an Undead is creating a magical artifact called Horcrux. It involves tearing a part of your soul to store it into an object. Make no mistake,  _ **_Horcrux and_ ** **_Phylactery are not the same thing and are very different._ **

_ When a wizard creates a Horcrux, he tears apart his soul in two parts. The First part remains in his body and the second part goes into the object. The soul, the thing that contains all the information about a wizard including how he looks, and his memories are ripped apart into two pieces. Its very existence is violated. That’s why when a Wizard who has created a Horcrux takes several years to resurrect because his soul which has been ripped into half does not have complete information about the wizard including its memories. _

_ A Wizard who has a Horcrux requires the help of a ritual to completely resurrect itself in a short amount of time. Otherwise, without the help of a ritual, the Wizard will have to wait for several decades to recover his body completely on his own. The time required for resurrection increases if more than one Horcrux is created, Since each time your soul would have lesser information to work with. _

_ On the contrary, a Phylactery separates the soul from the body and stores it inside an object but does not violate it in any way. The soul which is whole and undamaged is just separated from the body. _

_ Also, Liches have an innate magical ability called Undead Regeneration which regenerates any body part that is damaged quickly. For Example, a lost limb would typically take half an hour to regenerate completely. That’s why Liches can be resurrected in two days if their body is completely destroyed. This speed of resurrection is just incomparable when compared to the Horcrux method which takes decades to resurrect the Wizard. _

Harry looked away from the book in deep thought. From this information, he knew Voldemort was definitely not a Lich. Otherwise, he would have been resurrected just two days after his death in 1981. No, Voldemort definitely used the Horcrux method. It was the only method which explained why Voldemort existed in the form of a wraith but did not have a physical body yet. He looked back into the book.

_ However, the ritual outlined in this book can only be performed by Wizards who have less than the allowed threshold of the blood of magical creatures in their blood. To test whether you have less than the allowed threshold of the blood of magical creatures running into your body, there is a potion that will help in determining that. _

_ After Successful Brewing of this potion, the wizard needs to drop three drops of his blood in the colorless potion, if the potion remains colorless then the wizard has less than the allowed threshold of magical creature blood and can successfully proceed with the ritual of turning into a Lich. However, if the potion turns red with bubbles frothing on top of the potion, then the wizard has a higher quantity of magical creature blood than the threshold. If a Wizard having higher than the allowed quantity of creature blood performs the Ritual it will result in immediate death. _

  
  


Harry immediately knew why Voldemort did not turn himself into an Undead. It was not he did not want to, he just couldn’t. Voldemort definitely had a higher than allowed quantity of basilisk blood from his ancestor Salazar Slytherin who Harry assumed also couldn’t do the Undead Ritual. Harry knew no normal human wizard could be born with the ability to speak the language of snakes. Salazar Slytherin had definitely used some magic to infuse his bloodline with the bloodline of a Basilisk. Riddle’s ancestors likely married their close relatives which kept the concentration of the Basilisk blood inside their Bloodline high. Riddle must have been furious, to learn that it was his ancestor which he prided himself on was the reason he couldn’t use the best path of immortality and had to settle for second best.

  
  


It was ironic Harry thought, the only people who could use this ritual couldn’t access the Chamber of Secrets, and those who could access it would be unable to perform it due to requirements of the Ritual.

Harry hoped that he didn’t have the creature’s blood. This Ritual was the only way he was going to survive the Triwizard Tournament. He couldn’t care less if the ritual was dark, if it gave him survival he would grab it with both hands. After the death of his parents there had been no adult in his life that Harry could depend on in any situation. Remus despite claiming to be his father’s best friend had never visited him or checked up on him before Hogwarts. Sirius put his own revenge ahead of his godson’s well being. Dumbledore had always been a mysterious figure in his life. While the old man seemed honest guy from the outside, Harry had seen various hints that indicated otherwise.

Harry also realized he needed to check up on his financial situation. After coming to the Wizarding world he had never been allowed to be alone with Goblins for a prolonged period due to various reasons. He had to correct that mistake. He also needed to purchase several potion ingredients for brewing the potion which would allow him to see if he should proceed with the Undead Ritual. 

Harry called Dobby. “Master Harry Called ?”, asked Dobby while swaying on its feet.

“Yes, Dobby I need to go to Diagon Alley for various reasons, could apply a glamour charm on me and also apparate me to the Diagon Alley ?” asked Harry impatiently.

“Yes, Dobby could do that Master Harry, Master Harry just needs to ask”, Dobby explained quickly. After that Dobby cast a quick glamour charm on Harry which changed his appearance to a blond-haired, brown-eyed guy and hid the scar on his forehead. After which Dobby grabbed Harry and both of them disappeared from the Chamber of Secrets.

  
  
  
  
  



	2. Gringotts

**Chapter 2: Gringotts.**

With a pop, Harry and Dobby appeared in an alley behind the Fortescue’s Ice cream shop. Harry started walking straight to Gringotts without looking at any other shops. He needed to do some shopping as well as needed the ingredients for the Potion that would determine if he could perform the Undead Ritual after all. 

But to do all that he needed money and a good amount of it since the ingredients and items he would be purchasing would be expensive. He wasn’t raised by Wizards but he had spent nearly four years in Wizarding World and had a good intuition for guessing the prices of some of the items he was going to purchase.

  
  


Harry entered the Bank and walked straight to the Goblin sitting on the front desk.

“I need to withdraw money as well as some items from my account ”. Harry said after looking around warily. He saw that he was the only wizard currently around the Goblin. There were a few more Wizards, but they were talking to other Goblins that were sitting around the room.

“My name is Harry Potter”, Harry added as an afterword.

“Mr. Potter, can I see the key to your Gringotts Account to make sure of your identity. This key was issued when your account was created. ”, the Goblin asked in a professional tone. He couldn’t care less whether the wizard in front of him looked like Harry Potter or not. It was the Bank Policy to allow access to the account as long as the concerned client had the correct key. It was not like the Goblins kept a record of the face of every wizard that had an account here.

“Um, I do not have the key with me. Can you issue me a new Key and cancel the old one. You see I do not know who holds the current key of my account .”, Harry said and looked around embarrassingly. He knew how that sounded. To not know who held the key to your own account was a massive oversight normal wizards wouldn’t make.

The Goblin looked at him for some time and then without speaking left his seat and went to the room just behind his desk. After some time he came back with a register and opened it and spread it on his desk.

“Mr. Potter, according to the records of the Bank, you last visited the bank at the start of your first year right ?“the Goblin asked to which Harry nodded quickly.

“What happened to your key after the Bank visit, Mr. Potter”, asked the Goblin.

“I gave my key back to Hagrid.”. Harry said and then like he had a sudden epiphany said “I think I know who holds my Key”.

“Mr. Potter just wait a minute”. The Goblin said and then went back to the room behind his Desk and came with another register.

“Mr. Potter, according to the Wizarding Law, for any Muggle raised Wizards, the key to their Gringotts account can only be held by themselves or their Magical Guardian, which implies that if you do not have the key then whoever is your Magical Guardian does.” the Goblin replied quickly.

“Mr. Potter this register here holds the names of Magical Guardians of all underage Muggle Raised Wizards who have accounts in Gringotts .” the goblin said and then started flicking the pages of the register quickly and suddenly came to stop at a particular page. He looked at the page for quite a while and then closed the Register and folded his hands and kept them on the desk.

“Mr. Potter, it seems the name of your Magical Guardian is Albus Dumbledore”. The Goblin said suddenly with a smile on his face.

“Look, I just need access to my account. Can’t you just issue me a new Key? I promise that the new key will be kept with me and will not be entrusted to anyone else”, Harry tried to tell the Goblin in an assuring tone.

The Goblin stared at him for some time and then told him that he needed to perform a blood test to confirm his identity. Harry quickly pricked his fingers and let a few drops of his blood fall on the paper which was given by the Goblin. The paper quickly ascertained his identity.

“It seems you really are Harry Potter, Gringotts will issue you a new key but before that, it seems you need to meet with a certain Goblin.”. The Goblin said and led Harry down a hallway. The Hallway was different than the one he took the first time to get to his vault.

They entered through an ornate door in a simple and elegant room. There were small paintings hung around the room, most of them of Goblins throughout their history. The room had a desk behind which sat a simple Goblin in dignified clothes. The Goblin that had escorted Harry left the room while the Goblin who sat behind the desk asked him to sit down.

“Mr. Potter, my name is Sharptooth, I am the Potter Account Manager,” said the Goblin.

“I didn’t know Potters had an Account Manager .”, Harry said in a simple but surprised tone.

“Of course you don’t, you are muggle raised after all. Mr. Potter generally all wealthy pureblood families have an account manager in Gringotts. Your family is also one of them. Generally, account managers handle the financial transactions and investments of a family account and also provide financial advice on occasion if the family needs it. 

You see Mr. Potter, the reason we are meeting today is that you haven’t come to check the financial situation of your family since coming to Wizarding World.” said Sharptooth in a calm tone.

“Sharptooth since I am already here, can you provide me the updated financial information of my family”. Asked Harry in a serious tone. 

Sharptooth bent down and pulled a drawer. He pulled a register out of it and opened it and kept it in front of Harry who read the information in the register.

**Family: Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter**

**Current Lord: None**

**Current Heir: Harry James Potter**

**Balance: -**

**Family Vault: 20 Million Galleons**

**Trust Vault of Harry Potter: 1 Million Galleons**

**Business owned: Potter’s Potions.**

**Properties:-**

**Potter Manor, Potter Townhouse, Potter Cottage.**

  
  
  


“Mr. Potter apart from the Potions Business owned by your family which generates steady income for your Family Vault, your family also owns shares in various wizarding businesses” informed Sharptooth in a professional tone.

“Apart from that, I have also been informed by Black Account Manager, who handles the Black Family affairs that Sirius Black has designated you as his Heir until he has children, also since you have Black blood from your Grandmother Dorea Black you have enough Black blood to qualify as an Heir, otherwise Sirius Black would have needed to do a Blood Adoption Ritual to make you his Heir,” added Sharptooth.

“That’s all for the Financial Information of your family, now would you like to wear the Heir RIng of your Family? Many Heirs don’t do that, they prefer to wear the Lord’s Ring when they become an adult. Though there are many advantages of wearing an Heir Ring, wearing the ring gives the Heir some sort of social respect by peers. It could also get you out of sticky situations, many people are afraid of retaliation by powerful families.” said Sharptooth in a smooth voice.

“Thanks, Sharptooth, Now I need to ask you two questions. First is when can I access my Family Vault. Second is how can I become an adult legally before 17, is there any way ?” asked Harry in a worried voice.

He knew Voldemort never died. Harry planned on studying as much as he could in Hogwarts before leaving it. He knew he couldn’t afford to stay in Hogwarts until he was 17. Harry knew he wouldn’t be able to complete his seventh year until the Dark Lord lived. He had a very strange suspicion that his name being in the Goblet of Fire was somehow orchestrated by Voldemort. He had faced Riddle two times by now and he knew his intuition wouldn’t be wrong. 

His intuition was screaming at him that Voldemort would gain his physical body sooner or later. Harry also knew he wouldn’t be able to leave Hogwarts until Dumbledore was his Magical Guardian. That’s why Harry was trying to get Adult status as soon as possible. 

  
  


“Mr. Potter to answer to the first question, you can only access it when you are legally adult in Wizarding World, as for your second question Adult status, that can be achieved in two ways, either wait until you 17, and that’s what every Wizard does or the other option is giving your NEWTs before 17. ” 

  
  


“So you mean if I give my NEWTs before 17, I will be legally Adult in Wizarding World and I can also access my Family Vault then ?” asked Harry.

“Yes Mr.Potter”. Replied Sharptooth in a calm tone.

“Thank you Sharptooth . Now I need a new Key to my Trust vault and also I needed to ask you whether there is a way to access my trust vault without coming to Gringotts every time”. Asked Harry in a serious tone.

  
  


“Mr. Potter there is a way to access your trust vault from anywhere. It’s called Gringotts Card. It allows you to pay anyone using the innate Goblin Magic. But there is a maintenance fee of 3 galleons per month for the card to remain functional. We will deduct that fee from your trust vault. So would that be acceptable to you Mr. Potter ?” asked Sharptooth. 

“Yes, that’s acceptable. Now I would also like to wear my Heir Ring Sharptooth if that’s fine with you” asked Harry.

“Yes, it’s fine”, said Sharptooth and bent down to retrieve an ornate red box from the desk. Sharptooth withdrew a ring from the box and gave it to Harry. Harry was amazed at the ring. At the head of the ring, there was a black gem that was like the darkest night with a white-colored drawing of an animal like a skeletal horse in the center of the gem. Harry wore the ring.

The moment the ring touched his skin. It was like a blissful feeling. Something like a thirsty man drinking water after a few days. The ring was exhilarated after coming in contact with him. Harry bent his hand and saw that the ring looked nice in his hands. Harry suddenly had a thought and tried to imagine the ring being invisible and suddenly the ring became invisible. It was still there. Harry could feel the ring on his hands but it had become invisible with a thought. Harry willed the ring to become visible again and it became visible again.

As Harry was trying his ring, suddenly the door of the room in which Harry was sitting in flew open and a goblin strode in. He brought a key and an object that looked like a card and kept it on the desk and left after that.

“Mr. Potter this is the key and card you requested,” informed Sharptooth in a calm voice.

“Thank you Sharptooth, Now I also need to go to my trust vault physically . I need to obtain something which cannot be retrieved with the Gringotts Card”. told Harry in a serious tone.   
  


“Of course Mr.Potter as you wish”. After that Harry and Sharptooth went to Harry’s trust vault. As soon as the door of the vault opened, Harry jumped inside and started filling his pouch with as much gold as he could. 

After that, he picked a few rings that were kept separately from gold and also picked wands of his Mother and Father and stuffed them in his pouch. He didn’t want to be seen openly carrying more than one wand. He had plans for extra wands. For now, they would be safe in his pouch. The rings were also important for his plans.

  
  


Harry left Gringotts after that to do some shopping. Harry walked into a shop with a name that said “William’s Potions, Alchemical, and Ritual Supplies”. He asked Dobby to stay out of the shop and told him to wait for a while. As soon as he entered the shop, the shopkeeper moved forward and asked him from behind the desk.

“What can I do for you ?”

“I need a few potions and ritual supplies”, told Harry in a hurried tone. The Shopkeeper raised an eyebrow at that. While customers demanding Potion supplies were a regular occurrence, the demand for Ritual supplies was very rare.

Ritual was an extremely dangerous branch of magic. The study of Rituals was stopped at Hogwarts just a few centuries after its founding. The reason was that Rituals could kill or permanently maim wizards if even a single mistake was made during the process. The injuries sustained couldn’t be healed with any healing magic known to wizards.

A Huge mortality rate and permanently disabled wizards due to accidents and mistakes in Rituals were so high that no Professor could be found that wanted to teach Rituals at Hogwarts. Not that any student wanted to study it. Ritual Studies was offered as a Sixth Year Elective to students in the initial days of Hogwarts.

But no student opted for it due to its extremely dangerous nature and limited career opportunities. While other branches of magic affected the environment and surroundings of wizards and had thus wide applications in a variety of jobs, it was not the case for the Rituals. Rituals affected the wizard and nothing else outside of it. 

That was why there were not many jobs that even required experts in the field of Rituals outside of pure research jobs that required the theoretical knowledge of the field. The Shopkeeper had last sold Ritual ingredients to a man six months back and the man was at least middle-aged. But he was still a Shop owner who did business and would not ask any questions. Whatever the customer did with the Ritual ingredients was not his concern.

“What do you need ”asked the Shopkeeper.

“I need these ingredients for Potions and these for Rituals,” told Harry and then listed various ingredients needed by him. The Shopkeeper nodded and went inside the shop, After a while, he came back and handed all the supplies to him. Harry quickly took the supplies and asked the shop keeper another question.

“Can I send my house elf if I wanted to purchase anything from your shop in the future ?”, asked Harry in a hurried tone.

“Yes, you can”. Replied the Shopkeeper. Satisfied that he could send Dobby to purchase anything he required from this shop, Harry quickly left the shop. Next, he went to a shop that sold enchanted items. As soon as he entered the shop, the man sitting behind the desk and reading the latest copy of the daily prophet stood up and asked him what he needed.

“I need an enchanted object that has very large space for storing items. Show me your most expensive ones with the largest amount of space possible ”. Said Harry in a rich and overbearing way. He was purchasing something that he was going to use for a long time. He could afford to splurge a little.

The Shopkeeper brought forward numerous pouches that could hold a space of up to the size of the Great hall of Hogwarts. This was the highest grade space expansion pouches available in the Shop. Harry learned that these high-grade space expansion pouches were created by a Master Level Enchanter who specialized in Charms. 

That’s why they were expensive. Master-level experts in any magical field were rare, so their time was very valuable. Anything they created was sold for very high prices. Harry quickly chose one of the highest grade space expansion pouches available that allowed a wizard to have a storage space of little more than the Great Hall of Hogwarts. Its price was 100 galleons.

It was very expensive by wizarding standards. Harry remembered that the wand sold to him by Ollivander cost less than 10 Galleons, which meant Harry could buy ten new wands for the amount of gold he was paying to the shopkeeper for the pouch. Nonetheless, Harry took the pouch and left the shop.

It was time to head back to school. So Harry called Dobby and asked him to apparate him back to the Chamber of Secrets. Once there he asked Dobby to bring his Potion apparatus that was in his trunk to the bedroom in Chamber of Secrets where he was staying for the moment.

Dobby quickly apparated and brought his complete trunk to the bedroom. Harry dismissed Dobby and sat on the bed. It was time to brew the potion which would determine whether he could turn into a Lich.

  
  


Harry quickly lit the burner and put the cauldron on it. After that, he put various potion ingredients in the cauldron and followed the recipe closely as it was mentioned in the  **Immortuous Regula** . At last, he poured the shells of the rotten eggs of a goose in the potion. He quickly stirred the potion and cast a spell mentioned in the book towards the cauldron. After that, he started to slowly stir the Potion. The Potion which was greyish white until now quickly became colorless. Harry breathed heavily. The potion was ready.

He quickly poured the potion into a glass container which was the size of a cup. He now needed to pour three drops of his blood in the potion to see if he could proceed with Undead Ritual. Harry took the knife which he had used to dice the ingredients for the potion. He gently cut the index finger of his hand. He allowed three drops of his blood to fall in the potion. After that, he waited with a look of trepidation. The book had said the results would be visible in 15 seconds. He waited for a full minute to check the results. 

According to the Book, if he had less than the threshold value of a creature’s bloodline in his blood, the potion would remain colorless even after pouring of the blood. But if he had more than then threshold then the potion would turn red with bubbles frothing at the top. The potion was colorless which signified that Harry was eligible to become a Lich.

Harry leaped with joy. He could now prepare properly for the Ritual. According to Dumbledore, the First Task would be held on 24th November. Today was 31st October. He had 23 Days left to turn himself into an Undead and prepare for the first task. 

The next biggest problem on his agenda was collecting ingredients for the Undead Ritual. The ingredients were not easily available in your typical ritual supplies shop. He required an innocent unicorn as a sacrifice for the ritual. Unicorns were near-extinct level magical beasts. Their magical properties made them desirable for various Dark Potions and Rituals. 

They were hunted and sold until their numbers hit historical lows of all time. After that Wizarding Governments around the world had banned their hunting and had declared them as a protected species. Hunting a protected species meant a straight ticket to Azkaban in Wizarding Britain. He had learned all of this in the Magical Creatures class in his third year.

He did not want to take a risk when the failure would lead him straight to Azkaban. He had learned from Hagrid that there were some Dark Wizards who took the risk and still hunted Unicorns. Harry also knew the Goblins had connections with various Wizarding factions. If anyone knew a Dark Wizard who captured and sold unicorns, it would be Goblins.

‘Looks like I need to head to the Gringotts tomorrow again to talk about this unicorn business” Harry sighed to himself. Another problematic ingredient was dead human bodies. Harry required the dead bodies of three humans who died less than the year-ago from the date of Ritual. He needed dead bodies that died in 1994.

Thankfully it did not matter whether the bodies were muggle or wizard, which meant he could go rob a muggle graveyard and face lesser issues. Harry knew that a Wizarding graveyard would likely have some charms or wards to tip off the authorities if someone was intruding or doing something which was forbidden. That’s why he was going to focus on Muggle graves. He suddenly had an idea. He called Dobby.

Dobby suddenly popped in front of Harry and gave a deep bow. “Master Harry called Dobby ?” asked Dobby.

“Dobby do you trust me ?”, asked Harry in an extremely serious tone.

“Dobby trusts Master Harry more than anyone else in the world. It was Master harry that saved Dobby,” replied Dobby in a reverential tone.

“Dobby I need you to do something were heinous. You may be revolted by this. So I am giving you a choice in this matter. If you want to decline you may do so. Dobby I need your help in robbing the graves of three muggles who died less than a year ago. I need you to identify a muggle village that is very isolated and has a low population. 

It also needs to have a graveyard with three muggles that died recently, buried there. Can you search that type of graveyard for me Dobby ?.” Harry replied in a calm voice. ‘If worst came to worst, I will just rob the graves of muggles near London. I may not have a choice after all. I just do not want to take unnecessary risks and thus was planning on robbing the graveyard of some backwoods village’ though Harry desperately.

“Dobby agrees with Master Harry’s request. Dobby thinks any magic is just magic and does not care if it makes Master Harry powerful. Dobby just wished Master Harry takes Dobby as his own elf” replied Dobby in a hopeful tone.

Harry asked Dobby the procedure to make their bond of master-servant official and Dobby explained to him in detail. After that Harry just kept a hand on Dobby’s head and made a magical proclamation to accept dobby as his Magical servant. Dobby kneeled before Harry and also proclaimed to accept Harry as his Magical master. 

After that Harry asked Dobby to leave and start searching for a backwoods village with a graveyard with graves less than a year old. Harry had asked him to search specifically in England only. After Dobby had left. Harry left the Chamber of Secrets and went straight for the kitchen. He hadn’t eaten for the whole day and was now hungry. 

He sat in the Kitchen and ate while the elves served him food enthusiastically, it had been an hour since the dinner in Great Hall. Harry had decided to at least sleep in his dorms, no matter how much time he spent in Chamber of Secrets. He knew if he went missing for an extended period, Dumbledore would start scouring Hogwarts for him and that was something he did not want. He wanted to keep Chamber of Secrets mostly a secret until he left Hogwarts.

He left the Kitchen after eating the food. He went straight to his bed in Gryffindor Dorms after that. He learned that his bed and his belongings had at least not been damaged or destroyed. He had been half expecting it after watching the anger from his Gryffindor dorm mates after his selection in Triwizard Tournament. 

He then changed into more comfortable clothes and tucked into his bed after that. He was lulled into sleep with a single thought. He was going to turn into an Undead soon.

  
  


  
  
  
  
  



	3. Beginning of the Endless Night

**Chapter 3: Beginning of the Endless Night**

The next day after Harry woke up, he quickly got ready with his school robes. He looked around the room and saw that the rest of his housemates were still sleeping. It was quite early in the morning. He started to walk towards the Great Hall for breakfast. He knew he would get lots of hostile looks from students of other houses as well his own, so he was leaning on the idea of eating directly in the Kitchen. But had then decided to eat in the Great Hall simply because of a single reason. 

He wanted to be seen by Dumbledore at least once a day so that the Old man wouldn’t start searching the depths of Hogwarts for him. The Chamber of Secrets wasn’t a _secret_ after all. Ron, Hermione as well Ginny knew of its existence as well as its location. If they failed to find him anywhere else, it was the place they would start to search for and Harry didn’t want that. 

Not only was it the only secluded place available to him in Hogwarts, but it was also the place where the Book regarding the Undead Ritual was kept, if it was discovered, Harry knew he would be in deep trouble. He also knew that the parseltongue barrier couldn’t keep a wizard like Albus Dumbledore from reaching him. The old man had a century of magical experience, he could definitely find rare magic to bypass that.

Harry simply walked into the Great Hall and sat on the Gryffindor table. He piled breakfast on his plate and started eating. He looked in the direction of the teachers and stared in their direction for a couple of seconds, some of the teachers stared back at him.

He now had accomplished his task of notifying the teachers that he wasn’t missing and perfectly healthy. He quickly finished his Breakfast after that and left the Great Hall. He felt the lingering looks of students behind his back. He had already gotten to the stage where he had now started to unconsciously block their stares from his mind. 

He had faced a social boycott in his 2nd year of school as well when everyone had thought he was Heir of the Slytherin. From his days living with Dursleys and watching the muggle media, he had learned that people just loved hearing negative things about celebrities and famous people. He had seen that it gave people some special gratification when famous people were brought down to the ground.

Harry wasn’t arrogant. He knew that being Boy-who-lived did not mean that he had to be always worshipped, but he also hadn’t expected to be slandered like that. The lesson that he had learned from all this drama was that he couldn’t let the whispers and gossip of people affect him. He needed to learn to ignore their accusations or he would never be in peace. 

Harry simply kept walking for some time and entered the Chamber of Secrets. He simply continued to the bedroom and sat down on the chair beside the study table on which the Book was kept. He opened **Immortuous Regula** and turned the pages until he came to the section which stated the prerequisite activities that needed to be done before the Undead Ritual.

These prerequisite activities were in two parts. The first one involved testing whether the wizard was eligible for the Undead Ritual using a potion that Harry had already done. The other part involved completing a _Purification Ritual._

The Book explained the need for the Ritual.

_All Wizards have lots of Magical Impurities and residues in their Blood. These impurities and residues could be created through repeated accidental magic which stresses the body of the wizard as well as various other factors such as body wounds or scratches by magical creatures such as Werewolves and Vampires._

_These could also be created if the wizard was subjected to Dark spells and curses. It is not required but recommended by me to complete the Purification Ritual before attempting the Ritual of the Endless Night which would turn the Wizard into a Lich._

_The reason for that is that the impurities present in the body of the wizard could interfere in the Undead Ritual and produce catastrophic results including death or permanent injuries. Purification Ritual not only cleanses the magical impurities but the soul of the wizard as well. It cleanses the soul which is the very essence of a wizard. Purification Ritual can have very different effects on different Wizards._

_Most Wizards after undergoing Purification Ritual barely notice the difference in their magic or body, but for some wizards, it is known to produce drastic results._

Harry looked up from the Book towards the bookshelf. Now that he had decided to proceed with the Purification Ritual, he realized he knew nothing about Rituals as a subject. He had never heard Ron or Hermione mention it.

He felt embarrassed by that. He knew he shouldn't have depended on Ron and Hermione to provide him all the common knowledge of the Wizarding World. He vowed to correct that. He planned on studying lots of common wizarding knowledge and cultural norms after the First Task was done. He didn’t have that sort of time right now.

He stood up from the chair and started browsing books on the bookshelf. There were quite a few books in there. Without completing browsing through each book, he just picked up a book and opened its first page, and then kept it back in its place. 

Harry discovered two books regarding Rituals on the bookshelf. The first one was “ **Basics of the Ritual Studies** ” and the second one was “ **Practical Guide of the Advanced Rituals**.” He also discovered a journal maintained by Salazar Slytherin himself. Harry picked up the Basic Ritual Studies book as well as the Journal written by Salazar Slytherin himself. He picked up the Journal first. He quickly skimmed through it. He couldn’t care less what Slytherin did in his day to day life, Harry was just looking for some important info from the Journal.

He discovered that the Room beside the current bedroom was for Rituals. Apparently lots of Rituals released violent and dangerous magical outbursts during the Ritual or after they were completed. 

The strange characters on the walls of the room next door were for suppressing them. No one outside the room would feel that a magical ritual was taking place nearby. Other than that the only important information the journal contained was the birthing process of a Basilisk. Apparently, Basilisks weren’t born naturally and required some form of Dark Magic to create them. 

Other than that there was nothing of note in the Journal. He closed the Journal and kept it aside. He then picked up the Basics of the Rituals Studies Book. He browsed the Book carefully and read the first few pages of the book twice. He wanted to be sure and did not want to make any mistake in either the Purification Ritual or the Undead Ritual.

He read the book for three hours and read the first half of the Book almost twice. Harry had found that his learning capacity increased by leaps and bounds when he was really passionate about a subject. Six hours later Harry closed the Book. He had read the Book twice in that time. He knew all the things he should be paying attention to during the Rituals and things he should expect afterward. 

Harry mentally sent a message to Dobby and asked him the progress of his search. He had tasked Dobby with searching for a Graveyard in some backwoods and isolated village that had three bodies that died in 1994. He required three bodies that had died less than a year ago from the date of the ritual to complete the Undead Ritual. Dobby had replied that he had shortlisted a few villages and was narrowing it down to suit their situation. He had confirmed that the Graveyard for their robbing would be selected before Night.

Harry stood up from the chair and left the bedroom. He now proceeded inside the Ritual Room. The Room had strange characters and glyphs on its wall to contain the magical outburst of the Ritual and also prevented leaking any magical aura released during the Ritual. Harry was now going to complete the Purification Ritual. 

He brought out the Ritual supplies from his pouch and set them on the ground. He picked up Sulfur chalk and a bottle of Ritual elixir. He poured the Ritual elixir into a wooden bowl. He then dipped the Sulfur chalk in the bowl and then when it was wet he started drawing the structure of the Ritual pathway on the ground. 

He had learned that Sulfur Chalk and Ritual elixir were basic ingredients for every Ritual. Apart from them, the other items required could change, but these were always required in any type of Ritual. A ritual pathway alluded to the diagram that needed to be drawn on the ground. It determined the very nature and path which the Ritual wanted to take. It had to be carefully drawn. Any minor mistake could change the nature or type of the Ritual the Wizard was trying and could also result in catastrophic injuries to the Wizard. 

Harry carefully drew the diagram of the purification ritual. It constituted drawing two concentric circles with space in the innermost circle for the Wizard to sit. After drawing two concentric circles. Harry started writing various obscure runes between lines of the first and second circles.

He also withdrew one of the rings he had taken from his trust vault and kept it on the second circle.

The Ritual required an object imbued with magic. It didn’t require the object to have powerful magic, just some magic after all. All the rings he had belonged to the Potter Family. They were imbued with anti-spying, anti-poisoning as well as good luck charms. 

They were perfect for the Ritual. After that the preparations for the Ritual were complete. Harry sat in the middle of the inner circle and made a cut on both of his hands using a knife. He kept his blood-soaked hands on the lines of the inner circle. The chalk which was yellow until now slowly started becoming red. Then Harry started chanting.

_As mos dis wer fy fasw deert fahh xyaaa mis kall, wis heett hyu feeb oro nee vall joak pentonis._

As soon as Harry finished chanting, something entered his body. It was like water was running through his body. It went through every nook and cranny of Harry’s Body. He was experiencing pain all over his body. 

He gritted his teeth and sat through it. But the moment the water like thing touched his head, the pain jumped several degrees. It was like nothing else Harry had ever experienced. There was something in his head that the Ritual was trying to pull out. The pain was so intense that Harry collapsed unconscious.

Harry woke up after some time. The pain in his head had subsided but it was still quite sore. It was like something had been ripped apart from his head. He checked his head and found out that there was lots of blood leaking from his head. He quickly got his wand and cast a minor healing spell on it. He had learned it from Madam Pomprfry. 

The pain had lessened quite a bit now and the bleeding had stopped. Harry immediately found out that his thinking speed had increased by leaps and bounds. Something huge had been cleansed from his body. He had always unconsciously carried some sort of weight on his body. Some sort of parasite. It was now cleansed. 

He felt that his very being was cleansed. He used his wand to cast several spells and immediately found out the difference after Ritual. Each spell just came to him ridiculously easy. Ridiculous wasn’t even beginning to define his spellcasting abilities now. He barely put any magical strength in the Patronus spell and had barely visualized a positive feeling when a fully formed Corporeal Patronus burst from his wand. He quickly fired a blasting spell and saw that it did far more damage than ever before. 

He fired the Banishing charm and saw that it generated considerably more force than it had ever before and it also took surprisingly lesser effort to cast the spell. He had noticed this effect on his every spell. He noticed something which drained his magical strength every time he cast the spell before the Ritual was absent in his Body. He didn’t know what it was but he knew he would find out soon.

He stopped spell casting after some time. Satisfied with his enormously increased spell casting abilities, Harry took notice of the ring which had stored all the magical impurities expelled from his body during the ritual. He picked up the ring and noticed that it was emitting a faint amount of magical aura. While it looked quite the same as before. It emitted a different aura now.

_A Dark Aura._ He knew which aura was this. He had felt it when he had encountered the diary of Tom Riddle. It emitted the same kind of distinct magical feeling. He immediately picked up the ring and left the room. He continued to walk until he came across the corpse of the Basilisk.

He picked up one of the fangs of the Basilisk which he had used to stab the Diary and immediately struck the ring with it. The ring immediately started vibrating violently and then a scream emitted from the ring. The scream sounded quite like a human. The scream stopped after some time and the ring also stopped vibrating violently. After that, the ring was also corroded by the basilisk poison. Harry picked up the ring and noticed that it was thoroughly degraded by Basilisk poison. He kept it in his space expansion pouch for now.

After that, he looked around and suddenly had an idea. He used a levitating spell on the body of the basilisk and forced it to go inside his space expansion pouch. He walked straight to the bedroom after that. He quickly summoned Dobby and asked him the status of his search.

“Dobby has discovered an appropriate village Master Harry, Dobby also knows how to read since his previous Master Lucius had taught him. So Dobby read the date of death on every grave of the graveyard and discovered five bodies that died this year,” answered Dobby enthusiastically.

“Good Dobby, though we only need three bodies. Since our search has completed we will proceed with the grave robbing at night. Now we need to go to Gringotts for an urgent business as well as for some shopping in the Diagon Alley. Can you please change my appearance and apparate me to Diagon Alley ?” asked Hurry in a hurried tone.

“Of Course Master Harry,” said Dobby, calmly and cast a spell on Harry which immediately changed his appearance. After that, he grabbed Harry and apparated both of them to an alley behind the Ollivanders. Harry came out of the alley and briskly walked towards Gringotts. 

Inside the Gringotts, Harry immediately asked to see the Potter Account Manager, showing his key as proof of his identity. The Goblin that sat on the front desk and held the key to verify the identity. The Goblin nodded after a few seconds and led him to the Potter Account Manager.

Entering the room in which Sharptooth was sitting, Harry waited in front of his Desk. After Sharptooth had looked up and had asked him to sit down. Harry immediately spoke of his purpose for coming to the Gringotts after that. 

“Sharptooth, I need a living unicorn. Can you procure that for me? I know Goblins have connections to many wizards. I know you guys will not have too much trouble procuring a living unicorn for me” asked Harry, in a calm but pleading voice.

“Mr. Potter, Gringotts does offer such services even though we do not advertise it. After all the hunting of Unicorns is a criminal offense in WIzarding Britain.”, said Sharptooth and gave Harry a suspicious look.

“Look Mr. Potter I do not know for which purpose you need a living Unicron. But I can assure you they are quite expensive. I am willing to procure one for you if you are willing to pay the price.” said Sharptooth.

“What is the price of a living unicorn ?” asked Harry.

“50,000 Galleons for a baby unicorn and 70,000 for a completely adult unicorn”. Replied Sharptooth in a professional tone.

“I just need a baby unicorn”. Replied Harry quickly.

“Very well, Mr. Potter if you come back in two hours I will procure one for you by then”. Said Sharptooth smiling.

“Thank you Sharptooth. Now I need to sell the corpse of the magical beast to Gringotts ”replied Harry.

“Which type of Magical Beast?” asked Sharptooth, calmly.

“A Basilisk. A thousand-year-old completely adult basilisk ” replied Harry in a plain voice.

“An adult basilisk and quite an old one at that”. Asked Sharptooth in a shocking voice with his eyebrows touching his hair.

“Yes, it's the Basilisk of Salazar Slytherin after all,” replied Harry in a mocking voice.

“Ok then, Mr. Potter . If the Basilisk is an adult then its body should be in a large chamber not in this small room. Let’s proceed to a chamber then”. Said Sharptooth and then stood up from the chair and started walking out of the room in the direction of the chamber. Harry walked silently behind the Goblin. They soon entered a large Chamber. Harry removed the corpse of the Basilisk in the chamber. The corpse stretched the entire length of the Chamber.

“Mr. Potter, that’s probably the largest Basilisk corpse I have ever seen. I can offer you 6 million galleons for its corpse. Its value is around 7 million gallons. But this corpse will require careful dissection and proper magical preservation to prevent it from rotting.

Then it also needs lots of labor to process it into valuable parts that would be sold in the markets. For all that and including the commission of the goblin nation we will keep around a million galleons for ourselves.” said Sharptooth in a calculated voice.

Harry thought over the price he was offered for some time.

“Mr. Potter I am offering you better than the standard price that you would be offered at Gringotts. Typically you would have been offered only 5 million galleons for this corpse. But since I am your Family Account Manager and the financial welfare of your family falls on my shoulders, I am offering you more than a fair price.” said Sharptooth as Harry thought over Sharptooth’s words.

“I am willing to take the deal then,” said Harry. He had already taken a fang and some poison from the Basilisk before bringing it to the Gringotts and had stored them in his space expansion pouch. 

“Well, Mr. Potter then I will contact my superiors and ask them to transfer the appropriate amount for this corpse in your Trust Vault”. Said Sharptooth, smiling. Harry nodded at that and bid goodbye to Sharptooth. He left Gringotts and went towards the Book shop. He had to return to the Gringotts two hours later anyway. So there was no point in going back to Hogwarts for now. He was going to browse the Book shop in the meanwhile. He had asked Dobby to make himself invisible and follow him into the bookshop.

Harry quickly entered the book shop and walked towards the section where the largest amount of books were kept. He carefully browsed many books in each section and spent the two hours in that fashion. At the end of the two hours, he had selected a few Books. He wanted to purchase them and increase his personal library. He quickly walked towards the receptionist and purchased all the Books. 

One of the Books was regarding everyday utility charms and another was regarding everyday household charms. Harry had realized that he didn’t know many everyday utility charms. Things like how to charm your clothes so they look fresh or how to charm something to smell nice were things he didn't know. 

These were not taught in Hogwarts in classrooms. Students were expected to learn them in their own time. Harry had realized that he had been very negligent in his studies for the past few years but he vowed to correct that mistake now.

Harry walked back into the Gringotts after two hours and met with Sharptooth.

“Here is your unicorn Mr. Potter. It's in a cage. Unfortunately, it cannot go inside a space expansion pouch since it only allows the storage of non-living things. So you will have to carry it by your hands.” Said Sharptooth and handed the cage to Harry.  
  


Harry took the cage from Sharptooth. He saw that the unicorn was unconscious. He quickly conjured a cloth the size of the cage and covered the cage with it. It was a temporary conjuration that would vanish in an hour. 

“Sharptooth, I assume you will make the payment for this Unicron from my trust vault automatically,” asked Harry in a hurried tone.

“Yes, Mr. Potter. Also, to remind you we have already transferred the price of the unicorn to your Trust vault,” informed Sharptooth in a calm voice.

“Thanks, Sharptooth. I will take my leave now,” said Harry, and left the Gringotts. As soon as he was outside the doors of the Bank, he asked Dobby to apparate him back to Hogwarts. Dobby firmly grabbed him and both of them vanished from the Diagon Alley.

Harry and Dobby appeared inside the Chamber of Secrets with a pop. Harry removed the cloth and walked with the cage back to the bedroom. He extended his hand and touched the unicorn with his hands. The unicorn was literally a baby and was quietly sleeping inside the cage.

Harry kept the cage on the bed and cast a sleeping charm on the Unicron again. The sun was already setting. It was evening now. He had to leave for grave robbing before the night.

Harry let the unicorn sleep in the cage and left the bedroom. He suddenly had a thought and quickly whipped out his wand. He cast the spell _Serpensortia._ A black-colored snake suddenly appeared in front of Harry and hissed at him. Harry found out that he could still understand the language of the snakes and tried to speak to it. He ordered the snake to coil around itself and the snake obeyed.

Harry was shocked. He had thought since he didn’t have the Blood of Slytherin due to the result of the potion test and he had removed whatever part of Tom Riddle that was inside him in the Purification ritual, he wouldn’t be able to speak Parseltongue again. But apparently, that wasn’t the case. Harry didn’t know how that was possible. He planned to explore the subject in the future.

Harry quickly left the Chamber and walked towards his dormitory. As one of the Hogwarts Champions, he was exempt from attending classes. So no one questioned him when he appeared in his room after being missing for the whole day. He quickly searched for his broom in his belongings and found it.

He noticed Ron, Neville, and the rest of his roommates were staring at him. He ignored their stares. He had gotten used to that by now. He took his broom and left the dorms after that.

He walked back to the Chamber of Secrets and summoned Dobby.

“Has Master Harry made preparation for the trip ?” asked Dobby excitedly. The elf had so few chances to assist his Master. He was always happy when he got the chance to help his Master in any way.

“Yes Dobby, we will proceed to the Village you have picked. We will wait until all the lights in the village are turned off and there is dark all around us before doing our tasks. Do you understand ?” asked Harry. He knew that the elf had understood. But he just wanted to make sure. It was one of the riskiest things he was going to attempt in his life. 

He had a few escape plans in case things went awry. So he had to make sure every part of his plan was going as it should.

Dobby nodded. “Yes Master Harry, Dobby understands”. Dobby replied excitedly. After that Harry asked Dobby to apparate themselves to the village. It was already quite late into the night so most lights in the village were already turned off and after waiting for an hour the last light was also turned off. Harry cast Disillusionment charm on both him and Dobby. 

He could have used his Invisibility Cloak to turn his own self invisible, but moving while covered in Cloak from head to toe was very inconvenient. That was why he had opted for the Disillusionment charm.

He sat on the broom and asked Dobby to sit behind him. He cast the Disillusionment charm on the broom as well. A Broom flying without anyone riding it would look very spooky to even Wizards. He and the Dobby flew over the Village a few times just to make sure everyone was asleep. After that, they flew over to the Graveyard. 

While hovering in the air on the broom Harry cast _Homenum Revelio_ on the whole Graveyard. The spell showed no human present in the Graveyard. He flew to the ground and asked Dobby to disembark from the broom.

After that he asked Dobby to remove the topsoil and earth from the graves they had selected.

Dobby removed the soil and earth of the first grave until the coffin was visible. Harry cast a levitation spell to lift the coffin from the grave and summoned it to him. Harry was still floating a few meters above the ground on his broom. 

The Coffin rose until it came to the same level as him. Harry quickly took out his space expansion pouch and put the coffin in it. Anything could be put inside the space expansion pouch beside the living beings. He quickly cast a repair charm that was used to fix broken objects on the soil which was removed for extracting the coffin. 

The earth and soil flew back into the grave and the ground became the same as before it was dug. Harry also cast a few restorative charms on it just to be sure. Not that it was necessary. It was impossible to trace any magical spell to a specific wizard. Otherwise, there would not have been many criminal cases in the Wizarding world still unsolved. 

He also had used his Mother’s wand to perform all the spells just to be sure. It was also not necessary. Harry had remembered his second year when the magic was performed by Dobby, but instead, he had received the notice from the Improper use of the Magic Department for underage magic use. 

He had realized then that there was no trace on the wand or the wizard himself that traced underage magical use. The Ministry just kept records of the underage wizards that lived with muggles or in a muggle area, and when any magic was performed near the wizard, it was assumed that it was performed by the wizard himself. 

So there would be no problems even if Harry used his own wand. The Ministry would just assume it was performed by an adult wizard or any underage muggleborn that lived in the area.

Harry performed the same spells on the two other graves that were pointed out by Dobby and two more coffins were placed inside Harry’s pouch. He quickly restored both the graves to their previous states as well. While they were performing the spells, Harry and Dobby were still entirely invisible and silent. 

They were just talking through a mental connection that was between a Master and a Servant. So to any outside observer, it looked like a coffin suddenly started to float in mid-air before disappearing.

Harry quickly flew down to the ground and asked Dobby to apparate them to Diagon Alley. They had no need to purchase anything in the Diagon Alley, it was just to throw off the trace of the apparition. 

Harry didn’t know if apparition could be traced back to the destination after all. But he had learned from a book in the library that tracing the apparition in an extremely populated magical area with lots of wizards was impossible.

So he and Dobby walked around for a bit in Diagon Alley and then apparated back to the Chamber of Secrets. He walked back into the room and saw that the unicorn was still sleeping. He was now going to perform the Undead Ritual. 

The book **Immortuos Regula** said that the best time to perform the Ritual was at midnight. It was also full moon today which was a plus according to the Book.

_A Full Moon increases the success rate of the Undead Ritual but is not necessary._ The Book had said.

It was just an hour till midnight. Harry quickly went to the bathroom which was attached to the bedroom. He filled the bathtub with water and quickly took off his clothes. He warmed the water using a heating spell and started washing. He asked Dobby to bring him a bar of soap and rubbed himself raw using the soap. 

After completing cleaning himself, he left the bathroom and entered the bedroom. He was completely naked so he had already asked Dobby to bring a robe from his belongings from his dormitory. Harry just wore a single robe around himself. The Ritual required that the Wizard wore no clothes, so anything other than a robe was a waste of time. He asked Dobby to bring him some food.

He didn’t know how much energy would be used up by his body to perform the Ritual, but he didn’t want to be hungry and fail the Ritual due to a mistake. So he quickly ate the food Dobby had brought. With his hunger satisfied Harry took the cage in which the unicorn was kept as well as other Ritual supplies. Harry called Dobby and explained to him what will happen in the Ritual and its Result.

“Dobby, I will turn into a Lich after this Ritual. This ritual also has low chances of failure, but that does not mean that the failure will not happen. This is a highly advanced and dark ritual that hasn’t been performed for thousands of years. So there are only two possible outcomes of this Ritual, either I become a Lich or I die. There will be no in-between. 

I will be going inside the Ritual room now and closing it. So you will not be able to monitor me during the Ritual. If I do not come out of the room in ten hours, tell Hogwarts Professors that Harry Potter is dead.” Harry said in a solemn tone. He knew a single mistake in the Ritual could cost his life. So he had to be prepared for that.

Harry entered the Ritual room and drew a pentagon on the ground with sulfur chalk dipped in Ritual Elixir. After that, he wrote several runes he did not understand near the edges of the pentagon. He also drew obscure glyphs near the vertices of the pentagon. He couldn’t understand the runes and glyphs used in the Ritual, but he planned on studying the subject if he survived the Ritual.

He removed the three bodies from coffins that he had brought from Graveyard. All of them had been decomposing and smelled extremely bad. He ignored the smell and levitated each body using the magic and placed them at the three vertices of the pentagon. 

That left two of the vertices of the pentagon free. Harry removed the unicorn from the cage and kept it at the fourth vertice. After that Harry removed a ring from the space expansion pouch. The ring was gifted to a member of the Potter Family a few centuries ago and was charmed with lots of magic. It was also very sturdy. 

The ring was also given to his mother as the Wedding Ring by his Father. This ring would be his **phylactery.** He was going to use his mother’s wedding ring as his soul container. It was recommended by the Book to use an object that had an emotional connection to the Wizard for the best results. He placed the ring at the fifth vertice.

Harry Sat in the center of the Ritual pathway(diagram). And made a cut on his hands. He let a few drops of his blood fall on the objects kept at each vertice. First, he dropped some of his blood on the three dead bodies. Then he dropped his blood on the unconscious unicorn and finally on the Ring.

Even though he was going to turn his Ring into a phylactery, it was not permanent. He could transfer his soul from the Ring to another object using a Ritual that was mentioned in the Book. Harry planned on transferring his soul from the Ring to a much more suitable object if he found one.

Harry found himself ready for the Ritual. He cast a Tempus charm and realized it was only minutes until midnight. He waited until midnight and then started chanting.

_Wes mos drees fight byss kyuk tikk eass feeg ekneer swass deecrrw awwer kamde dewssy_

_saarz abbyy xanyaq zayyt frqq creet faaz feaas hyttr uttree awyys deeqert cyctyr wymytre olytr ._

As soon as the chanting ended light emerged from each vertice of the pentagon and entered his body. He soon lost consciousness. All the five things placed at the five vertices started hovering in the air. Soon Harry found himself standing in a Graveyard not too different from the one he had robbed just a few hours ago. It was night. He found himself standing in the middle of the graves. 

He looked into the distance and saw there were endless graves. He looked around and saw there were only graves till the horizon. This was the world of death. He looked into the sky and was astonished at the scene. The moon looked completely blood red. Very different from the usual white one he saw every day. He saw skeletons rising from each grave around him and turning towards him. 

They started running towards him. Harry realized he had no wand with him. So he tried his best to fight with them physically. But their sheer numbers overpowered him.

Harry suddenly awoke with a gasp. He found himself inside a strange sort of shell. The walls of the shell seemed thin though. So Harry applied pressure with one of his hands and it easily pierced the shell. Harry applied the pressure again with his second hand and pierced the shell from another side. 

After that, he quickly tore off the shell around him and stood up. He was still in the Ritual Room. He quickly cast a Tempus charm and realized that it was only one hour past midnight. 

He was still alive, which meant that the Ritual had succeeded. He looked around and realized he was not wearing the glasses anymore but could still see perfectly. The Ritual had healed his bad eyesight. A smile of joy formed on his face as he looked around and saw that of all the things that he had placed at the edge of the pentagon, only the Ring had remained. 

The three dead bodies and the Unicorn had vanished without leaving a trace. He picked up the Ring and realized it gave a certain magical aura that only Dark Artifacts gave. He examined the aura closely and realized that it was his own soul. The Ring had successfully become a Phylactery and he was finally a true undead Lich.

  
  


**Author’s Notes: -**

**Since this chapter was getting a bit too long, I will post the details of Harry’s Lich form and his appearance in the next chapter which will also include the side effects of being a Lich. Also if it wasn’t clear, Harry has removed the Horcrux from his body now.**


	4. Lich King

**Chapter 4: Lich King.**

  
  


Harry looked around the room. He saw that the shell he had come out of looked like some form of a cocoon. He had evolved into a higher tier species. Harry looked at his body. He was completely naked. _But he had still retained his human look_. 

Harry heaved with relief. He had feared that he would become some skeletal like being. But that worry was unfounded, while his human form did have some degree of weirdness, it had still retained its normal look from the perspective of an outsider.

Harry touched his right hand with his left one and felt surprised. He always knew he had a sort of soft skin. But now touching his body gave him a feeling that it had changed in ways more than he had foreseen. When he touched his arm he felt a much harder skin on the body than he had before. He also noticed he had grown a few inches taller and gained some mass on his thin body. Harry had always known that the reason for his lower than average height for the children of his age was due to malnutrition and abuse he had suffered at the hands of Dursleys.

He looked at his body and realized that the skin on his body was much paler than before. Harry decided to examine his body properly in front of a mirror. The bedroom next door had a mirror. So, he tried to summon his robe that he had discarded before the Ritual using his wand. But his wand exploded in his hand. Harry was shocked. The wand was with him since he had entered the Wizarding world. He couldn’t have imagined living in this world without his wand.

Harry still had the wands of his mother and father with him. But he decided against testing his luck tonight. So he bent down and picked up his robe like a muggle distastefully. Harry frowned suddenly, since when had been doing things as a muggle had irked him. He quickly wore his robe around the body and noticed that it was a bit shorter and tighter. 

He picked up the ring which was his phylactery and kept it in his hand. He decided to shop for new clothes the next day and also get a new wand in the Diagon Alley. It was just an hour past midnight and most shops would have been closed by now. Harry after adjusting the robes on his body for some time decided to leave the room. 

As he stepped out of the room, he noticed that Dobby had collapsed on the floor and was looking at him in terror. 

“Dobby, what happened? ” asked Harry perplexed. He had just come out of the room after the completion of the Ritual and seeing Dobby in such a state was shocking to him.

“Master Harry looks very scary, just standing near him fills Dobby with fear,” said Dobby in a shaking voice while lying on the ground.

“Dobby just stay there for some time, I need to check something .”

Harry quickly strode inside the room and stood in front of the room. He was shocked. While he still looked human, some of his features had changed. He had _red eyes instead of the green ones he always had._ He was also a few inches taller and had also gained some mass in his body.

His hair was also a lot silkier than it was previously, due to which it now stuck to his head more instead of being spiky and untamed. His skin was a lot paler than before. His scar had also faded into a much lighter wound. It was barely visible.

Harry was a little taken aback by the change in his appearance. He had read in the Book that he would still look human from the perspective of an outsider, but he hadn’t expected so many changes to his body. Harry went to his study desk and opened the book “ **Immortuous Regula** ”. The last page of the Book contained the next steps a wizard had to follow after becoming a Lich. 

_If you have completed the Undead Ritual successfully, this Book will show you the next steps to follow. Just becoming a Lich is not the end of the road. It is just the beginning of a long journey._

_To proceed draw the following runes on the cover of the book with your blood, after completing the Ritual._

Harry looked at the strange runes written in the Book by the author. He made a shallow cut on his index finger and started to draw the runes on the cover of the book. He had barely written a single character on the cover of the book when the cut on his finger disappeared. Harry cursed.

He had read in the Book that Undeads had an innate ability called _Undead Regeneration_. The ability allowed undead to quickly heal any damage done to the body. While this ability was a blessing, in the current situation it was more of a curse.

Harry took the knife which he had used to cut potion ingredients and made a big cut on his fingers. He winced in pain and realized that being an undead hadn’t completely freed him from the shackles of humanity. He could heal from any injury or be completely reborn in case of death, but it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t feel any pain in the process.

Harry had barely written two characters when the cut made on his finger healed again. He had realized that the speed of regeneration was simply inhumane. So with a sigh, he cut the finger again and continued with the task of writing runes on the cover of the Book. It took some time but he had managed to complete the task. He now waited. He saw that the cover of the Book suddenly started glowing and in a moment all the characters written on the cover disappeared.

He opened the last page of the book and was shocked. The Book had nearly doubled in volume. The number of pages in the Book numbered twice of the previous count. He opened the page he remembered where the Book had asked him to write the runes on the cover of the Book. The page was now in the middle of the Book. He turned the page and read.

_Congratulations, you are now a Lich. A legendary existence very few could ever claim to have._

_Becoming a Lich is just one of the beginner steps you are going to take in your long journey. The first thing that you need to do now is to check your Lich Status. A Lich status means your position in the hierarchy of the undead._

_To check your status you need to perform a spell to summon the highest order undead. There are numerous types of Liches and each has its place in the undead hierarchy. A Simple Lich while an extremely powerful existence in itself is lowest in the Lich Hierarchy. Below a simple Lich lies a melee warrior called Death Knight. Above a simple Lich lies a Grand Lich._

_A Grand Lich is also extremely powerful and commands the respect and power of all the simple Liches. Above a Grand Lich lies an Arch Lich, an extremely rare existence even among undead who commands all the Grand Liches. I am an Arch Lich._

_Arch Liches are the known pinnacle of the Undead existence. Arch Liches are the highest known Undead possible currently. There are a few mentions of a mythological being called Lich King, but no has ever known of such an existence. If such a being exists then it would command the respect and power of all the Arch Liches._

_To check your undead status you need to perform the undead summoning spell and see what kind of existence presents itself before you. If you summon a Death Knight, then your status is a simple Lich. If you summon a simple Lich then you are simply a Grand Lich and so on._

Harry looked up from the book. He realized that checking his status would require the use of his wand which he didn’t have currently. He would only be able to check his status after purchasing a wand. He read on.

_Just having status does not mean you are more powerful or skillful than a lower-tier undead. An Arch Lich could easily be defeated by a powerful Grand Lich. your Lich Status just shows your Magical Potential. A Magical Potential indicates the highest level of power a wizard could simply achieve, which means a powerful Arch Lich could easily defeat Grand Lich, but a weak one could also be defeated by a powerful Grand Lich._

_When a wizard becomes a new Lich, he just has the skills and power of a simple Lich. Through constant hard work and diligence and practice, the Wizard rises through the ranks until he attains his Lich status. Your Lich status indicates the maximum magical power and skills you could theoretically attain. So a new Lich with the status of a Grand Lich, could only ever become a Grand Lich, no matter how hard the Lich works._

_When you summon an Undead using a spell the summoned entity is bound to serve you faithfully and respectfully. But a summoned entity also reflects the current strength of the Lich. A summoned entity will always be weaker than the summoner. So if you summon an undead using the summoning spell, not only will it be subservient to you, it will also be weaker than you._

_Now let’s talk about the innate abilities of the Undead._

_While it is known to everyone that an Undead does not feel exhaustion and hunger, their other abilities aren’t as widely known. Undeads have Undead Regeneration which allows them to heal from any injury. They also have extremely powerful mental abilities as well as innate talent for mind magic. The talent for mind magic is completely off the charts for the Liches when compared to normal wizards._

_Last but not least is the emotional suppression of undeath. This ability allows the Lich to suppress extreme emotions. Emotion causes people to take violent and reckless actions which certainly causes more harm than good. That’s why Liches are born with the ability to suppress emotions. This ability though might not be completely under the control of the wizard._

_The ability suppresses the emotion of the wizard even though the concerned wizard might not want to do it. Only extreme practice could allow the wizard to control this ability to a lesser degree. Complete control of this ability is not possible. The last and the most offensive ability of the Lich is its Aura. An Aura is emitted by various magical creatures._

_The Undead are no exception to the rule. The Aura emitted by the Lich is called the Aura of Despair. This Aura causes anyone that experiences it a substantial amount of fear and despair. It is emitted naturally by the Lich, so conscious effort needs to be maintained on the part of the Lich to keep it within the body._

_Now let’s move on to the next point of interest, which is the body of the Lich. You may have noticed that you still retained the human exterior of your body. This is not how a normal Lich looks after the Ritual. A normal Lich looks like a simple skeleton._

_The Ritual which you just performed had been modified by my Master who also instructed me in the field of magic. You must know that undead are not looked at kindly by normal wizards. Certainly not_ ** _Light Wizards_** _who look at Undead as if they were the greatest abomination in this world._ _They are hunted until they are killed._

_The newly founded Roman Empire spares no expense in hunting down the Undead. Liches are certainly not the only undead in the world. While normal undead like Vampires could be hunted or killed like a normal wizard, it is not easy to permanently kill a Lich unless you discover his phylactery._

_While Liches were safe from permanent death unlike other Dark Wizards and Dark Beings, they were still discriminated against because they looked like Skeletal beings. Even a Lich might find it difficult to research and study magic if he was discriminated against by every one. That’s why my master modified the ritual to resemble the human body._

_Apart from the red eyes and pale skin, it is impossible to tell whether a Lich is an undead or a normal wizard. This allowed me and my master to blend in with the normal wizarding society._

_While the body may look normal from the outside, that’s not the case internally for various organs of the body._ **_Liches do not breathe and their heart does not beat_ ** _. This means that most of the human organs inside the body of the Lich are for appearance only. They are purely cosmetic._

_If a medical examining spell is performed on the body of the Lich it does not show any outrageous results. While there may be unusual results it wouldn’t cause alarm in the examiner._

_The only organs that work for the Lich are the Brain and the nerves of the body as well as a few others such as sensory organs like eyes and ears as well as the reproductive system._

_The Brain of the wizard is extremely important for obvious reasons. The nerves on the other hand allow the wizard to touch and feel the various things in the surroundings for the wizard which is also very important._

Harry looked up from the Book. So he had been releasing the Aura of Despair from his body unconsciously and that had been the reason Dobby was spooked. Harry closed his eyes and felt his aura all around him spread in a radius of ten meters. He mentally willed the aura to come inside his body. His aura suddenly stopped affecting his surroundings. Dobby who had been standing a few feet away from him in fear suddenly stood straight with a clear expression.

“Dobby, I apologize. I didn’t know my aura was affecting you.” Harry said in an apologetic tone.

“Master Harry, no need to apologize to Dobby. Dobby understands,” said Dobby in a cherry tone.

Harry looked back at the Book in thought and pondered over the new information mentioned in the Book. So he had numerous magical abilities, each terrifying on its own. He suddenly took his hand in front of his nose and realized he wasn’t breathing. He then kept his hand on his chest and noticed that his heart also wasn’t beating.

The Book had been correct. His heart had stopped beating and he had stopped breathing. This was the most terrifying change in his body. People might overlook the red eyes but if anyone discovered he had stopped breathing, all hell would break loose. Suddenly his emotional suppressor kicked in and all his panic vanished. He felt calm now. This emotional suppressor ability was indeed useful.

The information that the Roman Empire was still kicking around at the time the book was written was also interesting. The book had also mentioned that the empire was established recently, which meant that the Book had to be written between the 1st and 2nd centuries. He realized that it was centuries before even the founding of Hogwarts which was established in the early middle ages. 

He was also quite taken aback but not surprised by the information of Liches beings hunted by Light WIzards. From his time in the Wizarding World, he had realized that they certainly had a negative view of magic, the likes of which he had just performed. If Dumbledore knew the kind of magic Harry had performed, he would escort Harry to Azkaban personally.

Harry stood up from the chair and moved to Bed. He tried to sleep on the bed but realized that the sleep was not coming to him. He sat up on the bed. He was undead. He wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore. Undead didn’t feel exhaustion or fatigue.

He didn’t have a wand so he couldn’t practice magic right now. He stood up from the bed and went back to his study table. He opened the book and continued reading. He dismissed Dobby for the night.

  
  


A few hours later Harry was reading one of the books that he had purchased from the Bookshop. The Book was regarding household charms and utility spells. It was currently morning. He had asked Dobby to bring a few of his clothes from his dorm. He quickly took a bath and wore his clothes. 

The clothes were a bit tighter due to his increased height and weight. He didn’t have a wand so he asked Dobby to cast a cloth elongation as well as a cloth expansion charm on his clothes. He was going to purchase new clothes and a wand in a few hours anyway.

Harry after adjusting his clothes for some time and taking his space expansion pouch as well as his Gringotts Card, summoned Dobby and asked him to apparate them to Diagon Alley. He was going to Ollivanders first to get a new wand. He had ignored casting of glamour charms on his face on purpose. 

The Triwizard Tournament was going to have a wand weighing ceremony in a few days in which Ollivander would examine the wand of each participant. If a different looking wizard and Harry Potter had the same wand, it would look suspicious to the wand crafter. So he had decided to go with his original appearance or whatever appearance he had currently after undergoing the Ritual.

Harry asked Dobby to make himself invisible and remain outside the shop. Harry himself pushed the door and entered the shop. Ollivander who was sitting behind the desk stood up.

“Hello, How can I help you gentlemen ?” asked Ollivander.

“I need a wand” replied Harry.

“You look like you are 14 or 15 years old. You also must be a student at Hogwarts. I don’t remember you purchasing a wand from me in the first year. Though you do look a bit recognizable. It seems I have seen you somewhere. But I don’t remember where”

“Mr. Ollivander. I am Harry Potter. I did purchase a wand from you in my first year. Thought it is now destroyed.” said Harry and withdrew the remains of the broken wand from his pouch. He kept the remains on the desk to allow the shopkeeper to have a proper look.

Ollivander fiddled with the remains of the wand on his desk for some time and then looked up towards Harry and then glanced towards his head where the scar was present.

“You look a bit different than usual Mr. Potter. You also seem to have lost your glasses”

“I do. I performed some magic on myself that improved my health and fixed my eyesight. That’s why I look different”. Harry knew his new look was going to attract attention. So he had thought up a convenient excuse for it. He had red eyes and pale skin. He had chiseled jaws as well as silky hair and tall stature. He looked like the son of some rich noble who hadn’t been in the sunlight for some time.

“Oh, You certainly look much better than before Mr. Potter. When you had first come to my shop, it looked like someone had half beaten you to death. But now looking at you, it seems you certainly have used some healing magic on yourself.” said Ollivanders and then went back inside his shop to fetch him some new wands to test.

Harry tried various wands but it seemed none of them were suitable for him. They would start releasing magic explosively in some cases while in others they refused to even respond. At last, Harry came across the wand that suited him perfectly. It was even a much better match than his Holly phoenix wand had been. This wand released sparks and bonded with him in a manner like no other.

“Well, it seems like I have found the perfect wand, Mr. Ollivander,” said Harry enthusiastically.

“It certainly does Mr. Potter. Though I am sure you would like to know the composition of the wand that you have chosen just now.”

“I do Mr. Ollivander, Could you elaborate that for me”

“Yes Mr. Potter, the wand that you have been holding in your hand is made of Elder Wood with the hair of Thestral at its core. You must understand Mr.Potter that Elder Wood is an extremely uncommon wood that is used for wand crafting. We wand crafters certainly use other woods more since they are more likely to choose an average wizard. 

You see Elder wood is extremely picky. It does not bind with an average wizard, which certainly does not surprise me since you are not an average wizard. The hair of the Thestral is an even rarer raw material for the core of the wand. Thestrals are dark creatures. Only wizards who have seen death can see them. The combination of these materials is very rare and very difficult to forge. It was certainly difficult for me when I did it. 

I remember selling this sort of wand only once in my life previously. This wand is extremely suitable for offensive and defensive dark magic and good for other types of magic as well ” explained Ollivnader in a calm tone.

Harry nodded and thought deeply. His wand’s extreme suitability for offensive dark magic was not a surprise for him considering his existence.

“Mr. Ollivander, do you have an accessory or an object that would allow me to hold my wand close to my body? Carrying the wand in hand and pocket all the time seems impractical” asked Harry.

“I do Mr. Potter, it’s called a wand holster. It is attached to your arm and has a space that allows you to keep your wand stored there. On the will of the wizard, the wand leaves the holster automatically and enters the hand of the wizard. It also has an anti summoning charm on it that prevents anyone apart from the wizard to remove the wand without permission” explained Ollivander.

Harry thanked the wand crafter for the explanation and purchased both his new wand and wand holster. The wand had cost him ten galleons while the wand holster had cost fifteen galleons. Harry paid the total amount of galleons and left the shop. He attached his new wand to his wand holster. 

After that he willed the wand to enter his hand, and it did. He reattached the wand to the holster and walked towards Madam Malkins. He was going to finally purchase some new clothes.

He walked slowly into the shop and waited for the witch to attend to him. She was talking with another customer for now. When she was done, she turned to him and said

“What can I do for you dear ?”

“I need new clothes and robes. Both for the school as well as regular clothes. ”

“That would be alright, I just need to take your measurement,” said Madam Malkin and then took a tape and started taking his measurement. After a while, she was done.

“Your measurements are done. Now how many pairs of clothes and robes do you need dear ?” asked Madam Malkin.

“I need three pairs of clothes and robes for school use. Apart from that, I need four pairs of shirts and trousers and ties. I also need a few t-shirts. In addition to that, I also need a few robes that I could wear for formal or informal meetings as well as important gatherings. I also need a few new undergarments. 

Apart from that, I will also need new socks and a few pairs of dragon hide boots” replied Harry and then chose the colors of the clothes that he would wear. He mainly chose darker colors as they suited him better.

“Your clothes and other orders will be ready in a few hours. You could come then and pay for it. Now I need your name so that I could complete the order” said Madam Malkin.

“Harry Potter”

“You don’t look like how I expect him to look”

“Trust me, I get that a lot” replied Harry with a barely concealed smirk.

“Ok, then come back in a few hours. The clothes will be ready by then”.

“Could I send my House Elf to pick up my clothes ”

“Yes you can,” said Madam Malkin.

After that Harry left the shop and apparated back to the Chamber of Secrets with Dobby. He quickly walked to the Bedroom. He had left the Ring which was his Phylactery on the bed under the pillow. It was the safest place for it considering all things. 

He had thought of keeping his phylactery in his Gringotts vault but had then decided against the idea. It was too risky to place his life in the hands of the Goblins. Keeping it with him also wasn’t an option. If he was killed then the Ring could fall in the hands of his murderer or could get lost in the wild. 

The safest place currently was the Chamber of Secrets. It was only accessible to Dobby and Lord Voldemort. That was also one of his biggest worries. If Lord Voldemort could access the Chamber of Secrets then he could stumble upon his Ring. But as far as he knew, Voldemort was still in his wraith form and Hogwarts wards prevented any apparition and portkey inside the school. 

His Biggest worry was if the wards extended till the Chamber of Secrets. Headmasters of Hogwarts hadn’t known where the Chamber of Secrets was even situated and Salazar Slytherin had kept the secret till his death. It was completely in the realm of possibility that Tom Riddle could apparate or portkey inside the Chamber if he got his physical body. 

The only thing stopping him right now was that he didn’t know that Harry Potter had access to the Chamber. Riddle didn’t know that Harry Potter had discovered the Chamber of Secrets. That was only known to Ron, Hermione, and Dumbledore. But Harry couldn’t keep counting on Voldemort’s ignorance. The situation was not completely dangerous though. The Undead Ritual linked the phylactery and his body in ways more than one. 

If he called for the object which was his phylactery through any number of wards. It would appear in his hands immediately. The best solution currently was to cast the Fidelius Charm on the Chamber of Secrets. 

It was an extremely difficult spell and was known to be beyond the NEWT level. But Harry had already learned a spell that was known to be beyond NEWT level in his third year. It was a Patronus Charm. Harry thought if he could learn Patronus Charm then he could certainly learn the Fidelius Charm.

He decided to let the phylactery remain on the bed in Chamber of Secrets right now. It was the safest choice for the moment. He would find a permanent solution later on.

It was now time to check his Lich Staus. He remembered the spell from the Book. He immediately summoned the wand from his holster into his hand. After that, he voiced the incantation of the spell.

**_“Egressus Potissimum Immortui”._ **

The moment the spell ended, a dark mist shot out Harry’s wand. The mist expanded in size. After that, the mist started coalescing in the humanoid shape. After some time the mist vanished and in the place of the mist stood a Skeleton. 

The Skeleton wore a loose dark purple robe with golden strands around its frame. It had no body or skin. Just all of it was bones. In the place of eye sockets, there were two glowing orbs of red. The Skeleton also held a simple wand in its hands. The Skeleton quickly bent down on one knee and said “ **I shall serve you, master** ”.

Harry was ecstatic. He had just summoned his first Undead minion. But Harry had other things in his mind. He immediately asked.

“What is your status Lich”

“I am an Arch Lich Master”

Harry was shocked. The statement of his summoned minion implied that Harry was a Lich King. It was impossible. The book had said that the most powerful Liches observed were Arch Liches. Lich King was only mentioned in myths even during the author’s time. Normally the highest tier summoned undead were Grand Liches. 

But his summon had exceeded that. There was no doubt about it. He was a Lich King. Even though he currently didn’t have the power or skills to match his status. One day he vowed, he would wear that title as it belonged to him.

Just to clear his doubts, he made the incantation again and made the necessary wand moment. “ **_Egressus Potissimum Immortui_ **”.

Again a dark mist left Harry’s wand and expanded and then coalesced into a Skeleton with the same look as the previous one. This one also bent his knee and proclaimed “ **I shall serve you, master** ”.

Harry had read in the book that there wasn’t a fixed number of the undead a Lich could summon. It depended on the mental capacity of the Lich. since each summoned entity was linked to him through his mind, the more the number of summoned entity the weaker his connection with each of them. So he couldn't keep summoning his undead without losing control of them.

Harry asked them what sort of magical knowledge they had.

“We are your servants, Master. We will have access to any magical spells and knowledge that you chose to share with us through your mental connection with us.” replied both the Arch Liches simultaneously.

Harry’s interest was piqued. He closed his eyes and cleared away all his thoughts. He went inside his mental space. It was a dark space with nothing in it. Harry felt the connection with his two undead when he was inside the mental space. He chose to transfer the knowledge of some simple low-level spells to them, just to test their prowess.

After that, he asked them to show him their spell work. He watched as the first Arch Lich tightly gripped its wand then made the necessary wand moment and incantation. It was a simple blasting spell. The spell that shot out of his wands was very explosive. Harry whistled. It was an extremely competent and powerful spell work. 

He watched as the second Arch Lich repeated the actions of the first one and the same spell shot out of its wand. The result was once again the same. Harry was happy that he had extremely capable minions. Though he had to be careful now. No one could see his minions in broad daylight. If discovered, Harry didn’t want to imagine the consequences. 

The Book had said that he could summon lower-tier undead as well through a spell. He took out his wand and said “ **_Inferiore Ordine Precedent Immortui_ **” and imagined a simple Lich.

This time instead of a Skeleton with purple robes, he had summoned a Skeleton with red robes around it. This one also had a wand in its hand. This one had also quickly bent the knee and had asked to serve him. Harry did the same thing of transferring his knowledge to the summoned lich. He asked the Lich to perform the Blasting spell. The Lich performed the spell and it was exemplary. While the spell wasn’t as fabulous and grand when performed by Arch liches it was still competent spell work.

The Book had explained that to dismiss his servants, he had to go inside his mind space and cut off his mental connection with them. After that, they would disappear. He went inside his mental space and cut off the connection with all of them. Each of the summoned Undead slowly turned into dark mist and then disappeared.

Harry summoned Dobby and gave him a pouch with some money and asked him to bring his clothes from Madam Malkin. Dobby disappeared and came back with a new space expansion pouch. Harry put his hands in the pouch and pulled out all his new clothes. 

They all looked nice and well-fitting. Harry quickly discarded his old clothes and wore a new shirt and trousers and a tie that he had purchased. He also wore a school robe on top of it to complete his dress up. His tie looked red which signified his House. 

He now looked the part of the perfect student of Hogwarts. He asked Dobby to take the rest of his clothes to his trunk in the Gryffindor Dorms. Harry decided to leave the Chamber. He had been missing for the whole day after all. It was late in the morning. Breakfast would have been coming to end by now. He decided to grace the Great Hall and introduce the Professors and students to his new look.

Harry had barely left the Chamber and was walking towards the Great Hall when suddenly an owl was flying towards him. The owl immediately perched on his shoulder and held out its leg. There was a Letter or missive in its leg. Harry immediately took the note out of the owl’s legs. The owl having done its duty left his shoulder and flew away. Harry watched the owl fly away for a while. He then unfolded the note that was for him and read.

_Mr. Harry Potter,_

_Greetings from Gringotts. This note is addressed to Harry Potter. If you are not Harry Potter, you are advised to stop reading this important information at this point or face legal consequences._

_We recently discovered an important document created by your Grandparents. This document was created when you were one year old. This document contains important information that would affect your life. So I would like to arrange a meeting with you as soon as possible. Please be at Gringotts at your earliest convenience._

_Sharptooth._

Harry immediately summoned Dobby and asked him to apparate him to the nearest place near Gringotts. Only House-elves that were in the service of the Hogwarts were allowed apparition in and out of Hogwarts. So Harry had to take the help of Dobby any time he wanted to leave Hogwarts.

Dobby immediately apparated him to an alley near the back of the Gringotts Bank. Harry walked and entered the bank. He asked Dobby to stay out. Harry walked to the front desk and asked for his Account Manager.

He was escorted to the room in which his Account Magaer Sharptooth sat. As soon as Harry entered the room he noticed that apart from Sharptooth there was another Goblin sitting behind the desk. Harry was immediately asked to sit down.

As Harry sat down. Sharptooth introduced him to the other Goblin.

“Harry this is Ernok. He is the Account manager of another pureblood family. He is here today due to the important document we talked about in the note.”

“OK, Sharptooth. Can you elaborate on that? What is that important document and how does it affect me ?”

“Mr. Potter, what I am going to tell you now is very important so please listen with an open mind. Do not let your biases affect the information.

You must know that in the Wizarding Society, Purebloods mostly marry PureBloods. Some do it to keep their Blood Pure and some do it to form Political connections and alliances. Your father James was a rebel when it came to this aspect. He married your mother who was muggleborn.

While your Grandparents did welcome her into the family, they were still sad that James had cost them the opportunity to marry into another pureblood family. Both your Grandparents Chalus and Dorea Potter were extremely traditional. 

So they decided to write a contract for you. The contract is with another pureblood family. They wanted you to marry a witch of a prominent family. The contract states that you have to marry a witch from another family before you turn 19 or face extreme consequences.”

Harry was shocked. Out of everything, he had never thought in his wildest dreams that his Grandparents would have written something like a marriage contract for him. He didn’t know how they had gotten permission from his parents. 

This was something that didn’t happen anymore in the muggle world at least. Harry’s emotional suppressor kicked in and he became calm again. Harry wasn’t mentally prepared for it, but he had asked anyway.

“Who is the witch that I have a marriage contact with ”. Asked harry with a hint of trepidation.

“Daphne Greengrass. Ernok here is the Account manager of the Greengrass family. Greengrass is an Ancient and Noble House. In status, they are still below the Potter Family which is an Ancient and Most Noble House. But they are still a prominent and influential family. Daphne Greengrass is the same age as you and studies at Hogwarts. Though I am unsure in which House she is in.”

Harry’s mind went into deep thought. _Daphne Greengrass._ He remembered the girl with that name. She had an extremely pretty face and a curvaceous body. She was also in Slytherin. He had seen her when they had classes with Slytherins. In their third year, Ron, Seamus, and Dean had repeatedly commented on her figure and her face and had made pretty suggestive comments. 

The comments were mainly directed at her well-endowed body and Harry was ashamed to admit it, but he also had taken his share of looks at her. In his defense, he was a teenager, and anything that resembled a female was attractive to him then.

Harry cleared his mind. Her appearance should not be the focus of his mind right now. He tried to remember her personality and behavior, but only very few memories came to his mind. He had talked with her maybe once or twice in his entire time at Hogwarts. Both the times they had talked, the conversation was short and to the point and was during Potions class.

Harry remembered she had a bit of a haughty and cold personality to her. She didn’t seem to have many friends even in Slytherin and always hung out with one of two of her housemates. She also seemed pretty distant to everyone around her. There was also a nickname assigned to her due to her personality, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember the nickname.

He knew he didn’t want to be trapped in a marriage contract with a girl that hated or disliked him for his entire life. If it was only up to him, he would just marry her and then ignore her and continue with his life. He was a Lich, after all, he didn’t feel emotions. He would live forever, but she would die someday. He wouldn’t be trapped in the contract for eternity.

“Is there any way out of the contract, anyway that I could nullify the contract ?” asked Harry with a hint of desperation in his voice. 

“Unfortunately, Mr. Potter there is no way out of the contract unless one of you died. The contract evens states that killing the other for the sake of escaping it would severely affect your magic and can turn you into a squib. The contract was made with both your and Daphne’s Blood. There is no way out of this unless one of you died naturally.’”

Harry looked away in thought for a moment. It seemed like there was no way out of it. He was a Lich, after all, he would find the way out of the contract sooner or later. He was immortal after all. If not, he could just wait for her to die of old age. He felt a bit guilty at that but it seemed the only way to escape their forced union.

“Mr. Potter, I will provide you with a copy of the contract. You could study it on your own time. Now the Witch mentioned in the contract has also been asked to come to the Gringotts. Similar to you she doesn’t know about the contract as well. Her parents didn’t want to spring such a burden on her at such a young age. But alas, we could not wait any longer and had to inform her. 

She will be coming with her parents into this room any moment now. Until then let’s discuss the finer details of the contract. By the way Mr. Potter you certainly look different. seems like the unicorn I provided you was put to good use.”, said Sharptooth with a mysterious tone and a mischievous look on his face.

Harry blushed a bit and nodded. After that Sharptooth and he started discussing smaller details of the contract. Both waiting for the concerned witch and her parents to come and discuss the contract.

  
  


**Author’s Notes: -**

**Daphne and the rest of the Hogwarts inhabitants are certainly going to have an interesting reaction to Harry’s new look.**

**Harry's new look resembles something like this. But with just more silky hair. Note that the linked image is not owned by me.**

**https://nrinth.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/jacquesdace_heartstone_lorandesore.jpg?w=500 &h=750**


	5. Marriage Contract

**Chapter 5: Marriage Contract.**

**Note: Italic text represents internal thoughts and sometimes the contents of a book. The context will be available to make the distinction.**

Harry and Sharptooth were discussing the finer details of the marriage contract. It had been almost half an hour since Harry had arrived. Suddenly the door flew open. Harry looked at the new entrants.

Three people stood at the entrance of the room along with a goblin. Harry looked on as the goblin entered the room with the humans following him. There were a few more chairs kept at the corners of the room. They seemed rarely used since there wasn’t more than a single wizard in the room usually.

The Goblin that had entered the room suddenly pushed his around in a strange direction in the air and muttered some incomprehensible. Suddenly the chairs kept at the corner of the room flew and came to a halt in front of Harry and Sharptooth. The Goblin that had summoned the new chairs quickly left the room after that. 

Harry was shocked at the wandless display of magic. He knew that Goblins were not allowed to have wands according to the wizarding law, so they were proficient in wandless magic. But knowing something and seeing it in action were entirely different things. Harry internally thought.  _ I have to learn this sort of magic, it’s just phenomenal and powerful. _

He saw a witch the same age as him and two people who looked much older than her. They seemed to be her parents. He looked closely at the witch. She was still dressed in the school robes. The color of green on her tie seemed to indicate that she belonged to the House of Slytherin.  _ So this is Daphne Greengrass.  _

_ Her clothes indicate that she didn’t have time to change. It seems even she was informed of this suddenly.  _ Harry looked at her face.  _ Merlin, she is so pretty. Her face seems to have a hint of aristocracy as well as some softness. She looks exquisitely gorgeous.  _ Harry looked at her figure out of the corner of his eyes. He didn’t want to be caught openly checking her out. _ Even her figure leaves nothing to desire. It looks like she has an hourglass figure. _

Harry discreetly eyed her chest.  _ Weasley and Finnigan were right. School robes don’t do her justice. _ Harry observed her face again. She seemed very similar to her mother in facial features. She had dark black hair just like her father though. She also had blue eyes similar to her Father. He noticed that Daphne was observing him intently. Though she did have a hint of confusion on her face.

Harry looked at the wizard and witch that sat behind Daphne. They also seemed to be quietly observing him from their position. The silence continued for a few more seconds before Sharptooth cleared his throat and continued.

“To All the concerned wizards and witches that have assembled here, Let me make the agenda for today’s meeting clear. We are meeting today to discuss the Marriage Contract between Harry James Potter and Daphne Isabella Greengrass.”

“Let me make the introductions first, Mr. Potter this witch sitting beside you is Daphne Greengrass. She studies at Hogwarts in the same year as you. I am sure you must have met at least once. She is also the Heiress Greengrass” said Sharptooth and Harry nodded.

“Behind Ms. Greengrass are her parents. They are William and Isabella Greengrass. Mr. William Greengrass is Lord of House Greengrass and Mrs. Isabella Greengrass is Lady of House Greengrass.”

“Ms. Greengrass, the wizard sitting beside you is Harry Potter. I am sure no one in Wizarding Britain doesn’t know who he is. He is currently the last member alive of House Potter. He is also the Heir of House Potter.” said Sharptooth and Daphne nodded and looked at Harry with interest. 

There was a bit of confusion in her facial expressions. Harry could guess why. His changed facial and physical features had confused many people and Daphne was unlikely to be an exception. He noted that she had a neutral expression on her face. It was difficult to tell whether she was happy or sad to be here.

“The Goblin sitting beside me is Ernok. He is the Greengrass Account Manager. My name is Sharptooth, I am the Potter Account Manager.”

“Now, Let’s get to the main issue at hand. Since we are gathered here to discuss the Marriage Contract between Ms. Daphne Greengrass and Mr. Harry Potter, we shall proceed to a discussion of the main clauses mentioned in the contract. I shall read them aloud now. You both will be provided with copies of this contract. The contract I am reading now is the original contract. It was created by Mr. Potter’s Grandfather Charlus Potter and Ms. Greengrass’s Grandfather Ambrosuis Greengrass. 

The contract has not been manipulated or altered since the date of its creation. The contract has also been sealed with the blood of Mr. Potter and Ms. Greengrass which makes it impossible to break free from the contract. ” said Sharptooth and gave the concerned witch and wizard a sharp glance. Then he looked back into the contract and started to read again.

“The First Clause says that Mr. Potter and Ms. Greengrass will have to marry before any of them turn 19.”

“The Second Clause says that Mr. Potter and Ms. Greengrass will have to produce at least an Heir or Heiress by the age of 27.”

“The issue mentioned in the second clause is trivial though. Infertility does not exist in the Wizarding world. Healing magic can fix any type of Infertility problem in a wizard or witch.”.

“The Third Clause is the Clause of Fidelity. Both the concerned parties will maintain vows of fidelity until the death of one of the concerned parties.”

“The Third clause is again useless according to the best of my knowledge. Magical Marriages are quite different than Muggle Marriages. Magical Marriage links the married couple in such a way that infidelity is not possible. Vows said Wizarding Wedding Ceremony binds both the concerned parties strictly in vows of fidelity. These vows are similar to the magical oath. Breaking the vows can result in magic punishing the offender severely, usually rendering the offender squib.”

“The Fourth clause says that Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass are not allowed to kill each other directly or indirectly to escape the contract ” 

“I think the fourth clause is pretty self-explanatory, this entire contract would be useless if one of you died,” said Sharptooth

“The Fifth clause is that the second child produced from the union shall inherit the Greengrass name if the current Lord of the Greengrass Family fails to produce a male heir.”

“I think this clause is also pretty self-explanatory, at the time of writing this contract, Lord William Greengrass didn’t have a male heir to carry on the family name, so this clause is a safeguard in the situation that no male heir is produced.”

“So these are the main clauses of the Contract. There are a few small sub-clauses like the small payment of the bride price by the wizard to the family of witch before the wedding and various others. You can read these in your time. 

I will be providing you both with a copy of this contract. Now since we have discussed the main clauses of the contract, I will leave this room for an hour, to give time and space to both the parties to discuss the matter between yourselves” said Sharptooth and stood up from his chair. He motioned Ernok, the Greengrass Account Manager to follow him. Ernok nodded at Lord Greengrass and followed Sharptooth out of the room. The moment the Goblins left, the door closed with a thud.

Harry looked at the Greengrass family with a stoic and neutral expression. His face was completely devoid of any expression or emotion. He concentrated his mind on clearing away his emotions and thoughts. Harry had noticed that since he had become an Undead, manipulating his emotions and thoughts had become much easier. 

He had far higher retention power. He remembered things much more clearly and vividly. His mind had full control over his body now. Keeping his facial expressions under control was a child’s play to him now.

He had noticed that Daphne and her parents had been staring at him intently since they had come into the room. Harry decided to cut the silence. It was getting uncomfortable for him.

“Greetings Heiress Greengrass. Greetings to you as well Lord and Lady Greengrass.” Harry said in a solemn tone. The Bookshelf in the bedroom of the Chamber of Secrets had a book on the basics of wizarding etiquette. The Book belonged to Salazar Slytherin and was quite outdated. 

But considering how traditional the European Wizarding Society was, he doubted much had changed. He had decided to use the basic introductory conversation mentioned in the Book. He knew he was going to purchase a few books on Wizarding Etiquette. But he had to make do with whatever he had for the moment.

“Greetings to you as well Heir Potter. I don’t think we ever had the opportunity to get acquainted properly. Also, this may seem a little forward, but call me Mr. Greengrass or even William if you feel comfortable enough. After all, you are going to be my future son-in-law” Lord Greengrass said in a serious tone.

“If that’s what you would prefer Mr. Greengrass, call me Mr. Potter or Harry if you want”. Harry was a little uncomfortable with getting on a first-name basis with a total stranger. But the man had offered the courtesy of being addressed by his first name. According to the Book he had read, if Harry hadn’t offered the same privilege to the man, it could be perceived as rude.  _ Fuck this Pureblood Politics. It is so tiring.  _ Despite Harry's irritation, none of the emotions showed on his face.

“Heir Potter, could I have the privilege of addressing you as Mr. Potter or Harry,” asked Daphne Greengrass.

“You may Heiress Greengrass, could I have the same privilege,” asked Harry in turn.

“You may Potter” replied Greengrass quickly.

“Thanks, Greengrass,” said Harry.  _ I am finally glad this Lords and Ladies quackery is over. _

“Potter may I ask you, are you, Harry Potter. I remember you perfectly after seeing you in school for three years. You seem very different than I remember. Your eyes are of different color and you don’t seem to be wearing the glasses that you usually wear. 

You also look taller and much healthier than I ever saw you in school. ” rambled Daphne quickly.  _ I have so many questions. Potter looks very different from the Harry Potter I remember. The Harry Potter I remember was a little shorter and thinner with a very ugly pair of glasses. He also wore every emotion on his face, and it was effortless to read his thoughts from his face alone. He was also very timid and lacked self-confidence. Harry Potter looks very different now. He doesn’t seem to show any emotions on his face.  _

_ It's extremely different to read him. His facial features are also a bit different from the Harry Potter I remember. He also looks a bit taller. Honestly, his red eyes are a bit intimidating. He also looks handsome. Not that it matters. _ Daphne quickly shook the thoughts from her mind. Honestly, she didn’t know why she was thinking that Potter was handsome. Whether Potter looked handsome or not did matter. 

She had to do her duty. She was the Heiress of an Ancient and Noble House. She was from a powerful family. While her parents loved her. They had groomed her for her duties as the Heiress of the family. Marrying for Political alliances was a very common occurrence in pureblood families. Especially in Noble families. 

While she didn't know about the existence of the marriage contract, she had been raised by her parents to expect a political marriage when she became an adult. Even her parents had an arranged marriage. Her father had been a Slytherin and her mother a Ravenclaw. Even her parents had arranged marriage. 

Her parents had come to love each other after being together for a few years. But they had also told her that was not always the case. She didn’t know why her father had never told her about the contract. They would be having a serious talk between them after they get done with Harry Potter. She was having Breakfast in the Great Hall when she suddenly had received an owl informing her to come to Gringotts for an urgent meeting with a Goblin named Sharptooth. 

The note received from the owl pertained to something done by her Grandparents. She had used the Fireplace in Professor Snape’s living quarters to floo to her home. She had asked her parents what the note meant.

Her father and mother had taken one look at the note and had looked at each other meaningfully. It seemed that they knew what the note was all about. They had sat her down and had explained the marriage contract which her Grandparents had written with Harry Potter’s Grandparents. 

She remembered she had been angry with them. Her father had explained that he did not want to burden her with such a responsibility at a young age. But even after the explanation, she had been still furious with them. Not because they had kept the existence of a marriage contract hidden from her, but for not trusting her to take such a burden from a

young age. 

She had only calmed down after some time. Her father had stressed that House Potter had higher political status than them being an Ancient and Most Noble House, while their family was only an Ancient and Noble House.

Her father had explained that usually families would only marry into the family that had the same social status as them in Pureblood Culture. Lord Charlus Potter had only proposed the match because he was in a weaker political position than his peers since his son had married a muggleborn. Even many Pro- Muggleborn Noble families such as Longbottoms and Macmillans had not married muggle-borns for several generations.

The famed Blood traitors like Weasleys who were not even Nobles had been completely pureblood for several generations. Charlus Potter had wanted a Political Alliance with an Ancient and Most Nobel House. But due to his status as a Half-blood, Charlus Potter had difficulties in arranging a match for his grandson, Harry Potter. 

After some time, he had agreed to marry down to the Greengrass family. Ambrosius Greengrass, her Grandfather was Slytherin though and though. The children of a Half-blood and Pure Blood were still considered Pure Bloods. So he had no hesitation when Charlus Potter had proposed the match. The Chance of marriage into a higher status family did not come easily after all. 

Not to mention the immense wealth of the Potters. The only families on par with the Potter Family when it came to family wealth were Blacks and Malfoys. There were many advantages to the match. So her Grandfather had agreed immediately. 

The other advantage was that both Harry and Daphne were of the same age. Usually, in Pureblood Marriages, the Wizard and Witch had a significant age difference, since it was not possible to always have a wizard and witch of the same social status being born at the same time. But it was generally agreed that couples who were of the same age were much more compatible than the others. Both Charlus Potter and Ambrosius Greengrass had immediately drawn the contract after that and sealed it with her and Harry Potter’s Blood.

Daphne had been resigned but had accepted the match. Strictly speaking, it was not a bad match after weighing the benefits and drawbacks of the match. She knew that Potters were a reputed Pureblood Family and had lots of wealth. So she wouldn’t be living like a pauper after the marriage nor would she be disgraced. 

The Potters were also an Ancient and Most Noble House which meant they had more votes than even her family in Wizengamot. Harry Potter was famous as Boy-who-lived throughout Wizarding Britain. Being known as his spouse would surely open a lot of the doors, which otherwise would have been closed to hers. 

From what she had observed of the boy, he was also a true Gryffindor. He was chivalrous and honorable which meant he wouldn’t suppress or mistreat her after the marriage. One of her biggest fear was being in a marriage with a Wizard from a Dark Family. These families were known to have certain expectations from the witches married into their families. These expectations were mostly of being a proper housewife.    
  


They wouldn’t tolerate her ambitions. There were many Wizards of Dark Families in Slytherin like Theodore Nott, Draco Malfoy, and Romulus Selwyn. She shuddered even thinking of spending the rest of her life with any of them. Harry Potter also seemed a bit naive. Couple that with his honorable nature, she was sure she could manipulate and steer him in directions she wanted with proper guidance. 

She knew she was attractive and had the figure to complement it. She had not missed his discreet glances at her chest. She had the attention of the boys from her third year when her body had started to show the signs of maturity. At first, it was disconcerting, but her mother had convinced her that it was her most powerful weapon. 

While she hadn’t dated anyone in Hogwarts yet, she was sure she could manipulate Harry Potter with her feminine wiles. He was a boy and a teenager, he wouldn’t be able to resist her too much. She was also sure that if his current appearance was anything to go by, he wasn’t bad looking after all. 

Looking at things broadly, she assured herself that there was no major drawback to marrying Harry Potter. She was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts when Harry Potter spoke.

“Ms. Greengrass, you are quite observant. Recently I went through a healing ritual. This Ritual healed my eyesight as well as my less than ideal physique. My body is now in much better physical condition than it was before the Ritual. 

This Ritual is part of Potter Family Magic, so I am afraid I can’t disclose the details of the Ritual any more than this.” Harry said in a monotone voice. In his third year, Harry Potter had come across a Book about Family Magic in the Hogwarts Library while doing his homework. He had a bit of time, so he had read the Book. The Book had said that almost every ancient family had some form of Family Magic. 

Family Magic was magic developed by a member of the magical family and only shared with people belonging to that family. It could be related to any magical field. Secret Potion recipes that are only known to the members of a specific family could count as Family Magic. 

Similarly, Spells that are related to the fields of Transfiguration. Charms and Dark arts and kept secret within a family are also counted as Family Magic. Anything that is related to the field of Magic and is kept secret within the Magical Family and not shared with the outside world, could be called Family Magic.

The Book has said that Family Magic was a secret that even the Ministry couldn’t ask a Wizard to disclose. Many Magical Families even depended on their Family Magic for their livelihood. Family Magic was passed on from one generation to the next. The Book had even given examples. 

The Ollivander family had wand crafting as their family magic. The secrets of wand crafting had been the Family Magic of Ollivander’s for generations. Since the art of wand crafting was secret, the Ollivander family had no competition when it came to that specific field. The Laws Protecting the Family Magic of Ancient Families were created by The Wizarding Council. 

Wizarding Council was a precursor to the Wizengamot. Anyone who forced a wizard to disclose the secrets of Family magic could be sent to Azkaban. The Book had said that the Family Magic was usually written down in Books and Parchments and stored either in Gringotts vault or the Ancestral home of the Magical Family.    
  


Harry hadn’t seen anything in his vault. So he had devised that the information about his Family Magic was kept in either his Family vault or in the Potter Manor. He vowed to explore the Potter manor after the Fourth year was done.

Since all information about the Family magic was secret and wasn’t shared with the outside world. Harry could bullshit and claim that the Undead Ritual was a type of Healing Ritual that fixed the problems with his body and eyesight. As long as no one had tangible proof that Harry was an Undead, he would be safe. 

He had thought about using Gringotts as a cover and spread the information that Goblins had used a ritual to fix him. But that would have been a lie and he was sure that Goblin Nation wouldn’t hide his lies just for some money. They had their reputations to keep after all.

So in the end, Family Magic was the perfect defense for his altered appearance. Not only would it leave no loose ends, Harry himself would be the only person to know the actual truth. For the outside world, Harry Potter would be a person with a slightly changed appearance due to healing magic that was part of the Family Magic. 

No one other than him would ever know that there is no Healing Ritual in the Potter Family Magic. If Dumbledore or Cornelius Fudge pressured him to reveal the details of the Ritual, he could complain to Aurors and could legally send them to Azkaban. Forcing Ancient Families to share their secrets wasn’t a small offense after all. 

“If it's Family Magic, then we will not ask you any more about it Mr. Potter. Now Let’s talk about Marriage Contract and the plans regarding you and Daphne” said Lord Greengrass in a smiling tone. It seemed like the man had smiled for the first time since the meeting.

“Now, Mr. Potter, were you aware of the Marriage Contract before today? ”

“I wasn’t Mr. Greengrass. My magical guardian Albus Dumbledore never told me about it and neither did Mr. Remus Lupin who had introduced himself as one of my father’s best friends when he was Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor in my third year” said Harry. 

He wanted to say Sirius’s name as well but stopped himself at the last moment. His mind worked at a much faster rate now. He thought of things from angles he hadn't before. Sirius Balck was still an absconding criminal and it wouldn’t be wise to take his name in front of people who were practically strangers to him. 

Just because they were his future in-laws wouldn’t mean he would start trusting them with his every secret. He was still paranoid when it came to Slytherins.

He didn't know too much about the First war. But he did know that parents and relatives of many current Slytherin students had fought directly for the Dark Lord. Many that had not fought directly had provided some form of monetary or political support for the Dark Lord. 

While he was currently on the outs with the House of Gryffindor it didn’t mean he had started to view the House of Slytherin in a positive light. While his relationship with Gryffindor would never recover again, it didn’t mean he would start to cozy up to the rival house of Slytherin. 

It was an undeniable fact that the parents of many Slytherin students were in Azkaban because of Harry himself. If not parents, then cousins and uncles and distant relatives of many students were also in Azkaban because the Dark Lord had fallen. He didn’t know what the role or political position of the Greengrass Family was in the First War. He regretted not reading up on the matter as soon as he had entered the wizarding world. 

He vowed to correct that mistake as soon as possible. But he had remembered an offhand comment from Ron Weasley that most pureblood wizards in Britain were connected since there were very pureblood families left and they kept inter-marrying within each other. 

Even if a member of the Greengrass family had not fought for Voldemort personally, they surely had some distant relatives who did. He couldn’t know for sure if the Greengrass Family held a grudge against him because some relative of theirs was put in Azkaban because of him. 

That didn’t even include the fact that Harry Potter was the biggest enemy of the Dark Lord and was also a Half-Blood. Many Purebloods did look down on Muggle Borns and Half-Bloods even if they did not admit it publicly.

Everyone and their ideas changed over time. When the Greengrass Family had agreed to the marriage contract they might have had a positive view of Half-Bloods, but it did not mean it was the same case currently too. Who knew if they had suddenly started to despise him because of his Half-Blood status.

While he currently did not get along with his Gryffindor Housemates, he had to admit that the students sorted into Gryffindor had a certain amount of Honour, Chivalry, and Bravery in them. 

These qualities ensured that a wizard sorted in Gryffindor wouldn’t become a full-blown Dark Wizard. Peter Pettigrew was more of an exception than the rule. The qualities like Ambition, Ruthlessness, and Self Preservation were present in the students of Slytherin House which while allowing them to achieve greatness also lent them perfectly to an aspiring Dark Wizard. 

People like Lucius Malfoy and Tom Riddle were way too common in Slytherin than Gryffindor no matter from which angle you looked at. It certainly did not mean Harry disliked Dark Wizards. In fact, Harry liked them, he was attracted to the Dark Arts. Harry had already subjected himself to one of the Darkest Rituals to turn himself Undead. He had also performed many necromantic spells to summon undead minions. 

It was just the fact that as a Dark Wizard himself, Harry would certainly not trust another Dark Wizard. Ambition and Ruthlessness was part of every Dark Wizard’s character. They wouldn’t mind betraying their allies if they gained something from it. Harry knew that he was more of a Slytherin himself but he would sooner trust a Gryffindor than Slytherin if given an option. 

It was a fact that even among Slytherins, most of them distrusted each other despite keeping a united front publicly. A Gryffindor would betray you openly like his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had, while a Slytherin pretended to be a friend and stabbed you in the back as soon as an opportunity arose.

It certainly meant that Harry could not trust the Greengrass family at least until he had concrete information about the Family. Even if he ignored the fact that they could have relatives that fought for the Dark Lord or could have given the support to him indirectly or were pureblood supremacists who secretly looked down on him, it did not mean they would not betray him in the future. 

Daphne Greengrass and her Family certainly seemed to be mostly Slytherins from outside. Self-preservation was one of the basic requirements for being a Slytherin. Even if they had good intentions towards him currently, they could easily betray him if their own hide were in danger.

If the Dark Lord threatened their entire family, it was not out of the realm of possibility that they would present him as a gift to the Dark Lord as a favor. He would need to be extremely careful with this family for now.

Harry also realized that he had grown extremely paranoid since he had become a Lich. In his mind, he could imagine no one with whom he would ever share his secrets willingly. Not even Albus Dumbledore or Sirius Black or Remus Lupin. Not even with his own parents had they been alive. 

He realized that his self-preservation instinct had grown far stronger and his nature as a Lich was also affecting his personality in subtle ways. In his mind, Harry trusted no one apart from himself. 

“I was never told about the existence of the Marriage Contract Mr. Greengrass, but was Daphne aware of it before coming to Hogwarts ?”, Harry asked. He had been thinking that if Daphne had been aware of the Contract, why hadn’t she approached him about it before.

“No Mr. Potter, my daughter Daphne certainly did not know about the contract. We did not want to burden her with such a responsibility at a young age. Similar to you, she has also learned about the existence of the contract today. ” said Lord Greengrass and started to explain the reasons for drafting such a contract in the first place. 

He told Harry about his Grandfather’s desire to ally with an influential pureblood family and the reasons for the agreement of the Greengrass family to it. He clearly told Harry that their Family had seen many advantages to betroth their daughter to the Heir of The Potter Family.

Their discussion continued for a while. They asked Harry about his home life and where he lived. He only gave evasive answers to their questions. He told them general information about his family but not what their names were or where they lived. 

Harry certainly couldn’t care less about his relatives or their well-being but such information was still too dangerous to tell them. He was also planning on not staying at Dursleys this summer, but he wasn’t going to advertise it publicly. They then told Harry general information about their family. 

Lord William Greengrass was the sole son of the previous Lord of the family. Their family was mostly Slytherin but there were occasional Ravenclaws in the family. Harry learned that the Family had another member that was not present in the meeting. The family member was Astoria Greengrass who was a third-year Slytherin and was still at school and didn’t know about the contract. She was Daphne’s younger sister. 

Daphne’s Mother Isabella was from the Magdougal Family which was a Pureblood Family. Harry remembered Morag Macdougal from his year at Hogwarts. She was in Ravenclaw. Then they eventually came to the elephant in the room. They discussed the implications of the contract on Harry and Daphne’s life.

“Greengrass, are you really alright with this Marriage Contract. I would figure a girl like you would be quite unhappy with this situation. I am sure you would have wanted to pick your life partner.” said Harry.

“Potter, I am happy with your concern for my well being. I am the Heiress of my Family. That position comes with quite a lot of expectations and responsibilities. One of those expectations is that I should be ready to take life decisions that would benefit the Family over my happiness. I was taught from birth that when I turned adult, I would be expected to marry a pureblood wizard from a prestigious family for the continued well being of my Family. 

This contract is just an early surprise but not completely unexpected. I would still marry you when I become an adult, so it's not a wildly different situation. House Potter is a prestigious and wealthy family and has a higher status than my family. I have no qualms about marrying you if it benefits my family. Regarding you being a Half-Blood Wizard, frankly, I don’t care about it. 

You are the Heir and that’s all that matters, everything else is just optics. Now let’s come to the concept of the marriage contract itself, it's quite common in Pureblood circles at least. Muggles have raised you, and since entering the Wizarding World, you have spent most of your time with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger mostly, the first one comes from a family of known blood traitors and the second one is a muggle-born. 

Both of them have no idea what it is like being a Pureblood. That’s why you are ignorant about the various cultural practices of our world. Most of the  _ proper  _ purebloods are betrothed when they turn 16 and many are betrothed even before coming to Hogwarts. The betrothal is formally recognized with a Marriage Contract.”

“Well then, thanks for that information. I guess my childhood with Muggles and my school life with Granger and Weasley did a number on me when it comes to my knowledge of wizarding customs and norms.”

Daphne raised her eyebrow at that.  _ It seems Potter’s relationship with his friends has really deteriorated. He is calling them by their last names. _

“What do you think of the Marriage Contract then Potter. I am sure unlike me, you were not raised to think of Arranged Marriage as a normal occurrence. Your parents married for love after all”

“You correct Greengrass. Growing up, I didn’t think about the concept of marriage much. I was a child of course. When I first entered Wizarding World, I was told that my parents had loved each other. So I assumed every Witch and Wizard married for love. 

I had heard Ron talking about Pureblood Families arranging marriages between themselves, so I was aware that arranged marriages did exist. But at that time, I didn’t think much of the concept after all. If you asking about my personal opinion of the marriage contract itself. I must say I do not like it. Not because of you, mind you. 

I am not against the concept of marriage itself. But I had planned on marrying after completing my studies at Hogwarts and accomplishing  _ certain tasks _ . This marriage contract has created a hitch in my plans. That’s why I dislike it. I guess I will just have to rework some of my plans to fit this marriage contract in it. I have no personal problem with you Greengrass”

“Mr. Potter, Now that our personal feelings regarding the marriage contract are clear, let’s discuss how we will proceed from this point forward,” said Lord Greengrass and gave a meaningful glance to Harry.

“Mr. Greengrass, Since I do not know the norms that wizards and witches need to follow after a Marriage Contract, can you elaborate that for me ”

“Yes, Mr. Potter. Essentially, After the Marriage Contract is finalized, the wizard and the witch enter a period of courtship. This courtship lasts until marriage. ”

“What does this courtship entail Mr. Greengrass. If you have been reading Daily Prophet, you must know already that I am one of the participants in the Triwizard Tournament. I have to spend almost all of my time preparing for the Tournament if I do not want to die. I cannot spend my time on any activity that takes too much of my time.”

“No need to fret Mr. Potter, the closest thing that is equivalent to courtship in the Muggle world is dating. The wizard and witch meet and spend time together once in a while. The meeting doesn’t have to be always planned too, you can meet casually too.”

“I think I understand the concept now Mr. Greengrass. Though I must insist that I be the one that decides the time and place of our meetings. I will be short on time this year due to training for the Triwizard Tournament. I will decide the time so that it doesn’t affect my schedule. If Daphne wants to decide the meeting time. 

She must run it by me before the meeting. I will decide whether that time fits in my schedule or not _.  _ The place of the meeting will also be determined by me at least for the foreseeable future. You must understand that I cannot make the relationship between Daphne and me public due to reasons that are completely out of my control.”

“What? Potter, are you ashamed of being seen with a Slytherin like me.” retorted Daphne in an angry voice. Harry looked at her face. Her beautiful face was marred with an angry expression. Harry cursed under his breath slightly. He went into deep thought. 

The real reason he wanted to keep the relationship between him and Daphne private was due to the fear of Voldemort finding out. He admitted to himself that he couldn’t bring himself to care deeply about Daphne, much lesser about her family. He knew he found her extremely attractive. But that was it. It wasn’t all that much different from his reaction to any other beautiful girl. But he also remembered that the Contract was signed by his Grandfather. 

That meant his Grandfather wanted him to marry a girl of an influential family.  _ If Voldemort learns of my relationship with Greengrasses he would target them given the condition that Greengrasses are not aligned with Voldemort in the first place.  _

_ Voldemort hates me to the core, so my relationship with Daphne becoming public wouldn’t affect me personally that much but the Greengrass will become a target of the Dark Lord and Death eaters.  _

_ My Grandparents went out of their way to sign this contract with Greengrass Family, they wouldn’t have done it without prior knowledge of the Greengrass family position regarding the Dark Lord. This means that they approved of the Greengrass family on some level. That would imply that Greengrass Family wasn’t all that bad. After all, how much could change about a family in just a decade? Most of the Deatheaters were from Families that had been notoriously Dark for several centuries. _

  
  


_ Now the question arises, Should I warn them about the threat of Voldemort? Only Dumbledore, Weasley, Granger, and I know that Voldemort is still alive, albeit in a non-corporeal form. The rest of the Wizarding World thinks that Voldemort has been dead since 1981. If I tell them, would they even believe it? I wouldn’t if I were them. I don’t care about the Greengrasses deeply. But I also wouldn’t want their entire family to die, just because Daphne and I were seen together in public. _ Having decided on the matter, Harry spoke further.

“No Greengrass. I want our meetings to be private for a single reason. The reason has nothing to do with you being a Slytherin and me a Gryffindor. The reason is simple.”

Harry took out his wand, quickly cast a silencing charm all around the room. It was an area of effect variant of the silencing charm. To ensure that no word he spoke would leave the room.

“What I am about to tell you is an extremely dangerous secret. The only reason I'm even telling you this is because you are my future in-laws. The number of people that know about this could be counted on one hand. So listen carefully. Voldemort is alive. 

He never died. When he tried to kill me only his body was destroyed. But he still exists in a non-corporeal form. He is trying his hardest to get his Physical body. If Voldemort ever learns of the relationship between me and your family Greengrass, you will know what will happen to your family. I don’t think I need to elaborate on that issue.”

“Voldemort is  _ alive? _ I thought he died in 1981 when you were a baby. How is he still alive ?. How is something like this even possible ?” Daphne and along with her parents asked the questions in rapid succession. Harry was annoyed. He just wanted to go back and study magic for the Tournament. He didn’t have time for something like this.

“Voldemort is definitely alive. I have seen him with my own eyes. Dumbledore has also confirmed that he is alive. He has used some extremely Dark form of magic to make himself immortal. I cannot tell you the details of the magic. 

But know this, he is going to make a physical body for himself sooner or later. His death in 1981 was just a setback for him. But not his end. He is going to come back and when he does, I will be his biggest nemesis. That would mean anyone close to me would also be his nemesis. That’s why I want to keep our relationship private. Not for my sake, but  _ for your sake. _ ”

“Mr. Potter, I do not know what to think of this news. But if Voldemort is truly alive then I think keeping the relationship between us private for foreseeable future is a good decision,” said Lord Greengrass.

“Thank you, Lord Greengrass, I was afraid it will require much more effort to convince you.”

After that Harry bid farewell to the Greengrass family and left Gringotts. After he left the Bank, he asked Dobby to apparate him back to the Chamber of Secrets.

  
  


**Author’s Note:**

**Harry wouldn’t start trusting the Greengrass family just because of the contract. That’s what I wanted to imply in this chapter.**

**Another thing I dislike is Harry immediately becoming sympathetic to Slytherins just because of being a Dark Wizard. I have seen this in many fanfics.**

**Dumbledore and Snape’s reaction to Harry is going to be in the next chapter.**


	6. Damned Trinity

**Chapter 6: Damned Trinity**

**Warning: I don’t own anything in the Harry Potter Universe. Everything is owned by JK. Rowling.**

Harry walked back to the Bedroom after Dobby had apparated him to the Chamber.  _ I seriously need to learn how to apparate.  _ Harry thought internally. As he walked back into the room, he remembered something.

He opened the Book that contained the Undead Ritual.  **Immortuos Regula.** He had seen something important in the Book. He came to the page he remembered reading. He started reading.

_ Though being an Undead makes you far more powerful than any normal human wizard. For a Lich, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are various Rituals a Lich can undergo that can enhance the abilities of the Lich even further. In this book though, I will only show one more Ritual. You must understand that the Ritual I will be showing you is only known to me and my Master who taught me magic. Rituals are an extremely dangerous branch of magic. A single mistake can harm you permanently if you are a normal human wizard. _

_ Just take the example of Potions, an explosion during the process of preparing a potion may create burns along the body of a normal wizard. These burns could be healed using normal healing magic. In the case of Rituals though if there is a mistake and an explosion occurs during the process, it can create injuries that no normal magic can heal, at least for a normal wizard. Undeads have Undead Regeneration which can heal from any injury without the help of any external healing magic.  _

_ Rituals is an extremely Dark Branch of Magic. What happens during a Ritual can never be undone. For potions, there are counter potions that can nullify the effect of a potion. For most spells, some counter-spells can cancel the effect of the spell. But for any Ritual, there has never been any Counter Ritual. There are many reasons for that. Rituals are far more complex and mysterious than spells and potions. _

_ Every Potion and Spell that has ever existed has been created by Wizards. Magic has never gifted them to the Wizards. These Potions and Spells were developed by research and testing. The method of testing usually involves the process of trial and error. If any injury occurs during the testing of a potion and spell, it can be healed using normal magic.  _

_ But if any injury occurs during the creation and testing of Rituals, they can never be healed for a normal wizard. That’s why no one is willing to risk their bodies and health just to do some research on Ritual Magic. Whatever Ritual Magic exists today is due to the efforts of brave hearts that were willing to risk their bodies for the creation of new Rituals. _

  
  


_ Since just the creation of new Rituals is so life-threatening and dangerous, no one is willing to create Counter Rituals on top of that. It does not mean that Counter Rituals do not exist, it’s just no one has ever tried to the best of my knowledge which includes me. I never had any need to reverse the effects of any Ritual I attempted, so I never dabbled in the field. _

_ The Ritual that I am going to show you has been developed by my Master after countless efforts and injuries. It’s a secret and specifically for the Undead though. Any attempt by any living being will result in catastrophe. This is a Ritual that many Liches would kill for. So I request you not to share this Ritual with even an Undead. _

_ The name of the Ritual is  _ **_Creation of the Damned Trinity_ ** _. This Ritual archives three goals. The three things are Cursed Wisdom, Forsaken Creativity, and Dark Intelligence. Dark Intelligence allows the Wizard to quickly learn magical concepts, theories, and spells and remember them forever.  _

_ Cursed Wisdom allows the Wizard to understand and apply the magical concepts and spells immediately. Forsaken Creativity allows the Wizard to create new spells, potions, and magical concepts in ways beyond the comprehension of normal wizards. This Ritual is extremely dangerous, so enough caution must be taken while performing this Ritual. _

_ After this Ritual is done, you will not find another Ritual in this Book. At this point, I must disclose to you that I have left a substantial inheritance. The Inheritance left by me is hidden and is behind magical protection. I am leaving behind the way to access the location of the place where all the Magical Knowledge that I have accumulated in my life has been stored. I have ensured that whoever gets my Inheritance is worthy of being my heir.  _

_ The place where my Inheritance is hidden has sufficient Magical Protection, So only attempt to retrieve the Inheritance if you are confident in your abilities. I hope you do not disappoint me, heir. _

_ I am leaving behind a list of Dark and Necromantic Spells in the Book that would be extremely useful to you. In addition to that, I am leaving behind a list of magical exercises that should be performed to enhance your Mind Magic abilities as well as Soul Magic. _

_ Soul Magic is probably the most mysterious and unrefined branch of magic. It is considered extremely Dark by normal human wizards. Most Human Wizards hunt the wizards that are known to perform research on Soul Magic. That’s why most research on this topic has been lost through the ages since no one has been willing to admit publicly that they perform soul magic. It’s also the branch with the most potential if mastered properly.  _

_ But for performing soul magic, understanding the soul is extremely necessary. I have included a Magical exercise that will allow the Wizard to interact with his soul and will increase the Wizard’s understanding of the Soul.  _

Harry looked up from the Book. He realized that there was a lot about the magic that he did not know. He had never heard about Soul Magic.  _ I don’t think exploring Soul Magic before I properly learn the basics of normal magic is safe. _ Harry decided to proceed with the Ritual. He called Dobby and asked him to purchase a list of ingredients for the Ritual. 

He waited for a while. Dobby soon came back with the Ritual Ingredients and kept them on the floor. The Ingredients included several alive chickens and gooses. Harry whipped out his wand and cast a levitation charm on all the Ingredients. He had a Ritual to perform. Dobby had purchased all the Ingredients in excess, so he left some of the ingredients in the Bedroom.

  
  


He strode over to the Ritual room and started drawing an appropriate Ritual pathway on the ground. He took sulfur chalk and dipped it in the Ritual Elixir. He drew a large triangle on the ground. After that, he drew a circle inside the triangle in such a way that the circle was touching each side of the triangle. 

After that, he picked up three chickens from the Ingredients that Dobby had brought. The Chickens started squawking wildly as soon as they came in contact. It was as if a primal fear had gripped them. Harry chuckled and fired stunning charms on all three chickens. He placed each chicken at each vertice of the triangle. From the Ingredients, he picked up some rotten eggs of a goose. He placed them on each side of the triangle. He placed a few other ingredients in their appropriate places.

After all the preparations were done, he sat in the middle of the circle and started chanting,

_ Wyk estra ryuuk faav byzza traass barrru swyter grtu mylosk kamil wadaru rumata rojaru swama. _

Harry had read in the Book, that after the chanting was completed the Ritual would start and he would be knocked unconscious for half an hour. After the Ritual was completed, Harry would wake half an hour later to the changes in his body. But none of these things happened. Instead of being knocked unconscious, Harry started feeling intense pain in his eyes and legs, and his left hand. 

The pain was so intense that Harry became delirious. He soon lost track of time. He only knew pain now, he did not know how much time had passed. Harry woke up sometime later.

He soon found he had lost his eyesight. He had lost both of his legs as well as his left hand. He could not see but he tried to extend his magical aura to his surroundings. He felt blood everywhere in the room.  _ The Ritual has gone wrong. _ Harry used his remaining hand to feel his body. He first tried to feel his left hand. 

When his right hand touched the area where his left hand used to be, he only felt a bloody stump.  _ I have lost my left hand.  _ He used his right hand once again to feel his legs. He felt nothing after where his knees used to be. _ I have also lost both my legs past the knees. I have even lost my eyesight. The Ritual has failed horribly. Something went wrong during the Ritual. I think I made a mistake somewhere in the process. I will need to examine my memories of performing the Ritual to find the mistake. But for now, I need to rest. _

Harry took his wand in his only remaining hand and performed the Undead summoning spell.

“ **_Inferiore Ordine Precedent Immortui_ ** ”.

He imagined a simple Death Knight during the incantation and willed the magic to summon a Death Knight for him. Dark mist left Harry’s wand and started coalescing into a humanoid figure.

After the figure was formed, the mist disappeared, and in front of Harry stood a Death Knight in plate armor and a sword. 

The Knight looked no different from a normal knight of the middle ages. Of course, behind the armor was a Skeleton instead of a human. The Skeleton had red eyes. The Death Knight bent its knee in front of Harry and said “ **I shall serve you, master** ”. Harry couldn’t see the Knight but he could still hear everything. He took his wand and summoned another Death Knight. He ordered both of them to carry him to the bedroom. Both the Death Knights walked forward and knelt before him. They lifted him and carried him on their shoulders to the Bedroom.

“Now, Leave me on the Bed” Harry ordered.

Both the Death Knights gently lowered Harry on the Bed. Harry took out his wand and cast a Lich summoning spell.

“ **_Egressus Potissimum Immortui_ ** ”

Soon a Lich with purple robes was standing before him. Harry told him his orders.

“You will guard the entrance of the Chamber of Secrets; You shall not allow anyone else other than my elf to enter the Chamber”

The Lich nodded and left the Bedroom. Next, Harry ordered the Death Knights.

“Both of you shall guard this room, Don’t allow anyone else inside,” Harry spoke in an authoritative tone. After that, Harry summoned Dobby.

“Master Harry, what happened to you. Dobby thought Master Harry was alright just an hour ago” Dobby asked in a worried voice as soon as he was summoned.

“You do not need to worry Dobby. These are the injuries from a botched Ritual. With my magical abilities, I will recover from these injuries. I just need a few hours for that. I summoned you to wake me up after three hours.”

“As you wish Master Harry”

“Good then, you can leave now,” Harry said and then went back to lying on the bed with his eyes closed. He could not sleep, but he could still perform mind magic exercises in the meantime. 

The main mind magic exercise that he was going to perform was Occlumency. While he was performing Occlumency, his body was going to recover all damages due to his Undead Regeneration. He wasn’t worried. There was nothing that his magical abilities could not heal.

Harry was acutely feeling the loss of limbs and eyes. The pain was getting unbearable now. When he was in the Ritual chamber his body hadn’t felt much pain. Likely due to shock. Now that he had realized the damage to his body, the pain was coming back with full force. He remembered something from the Book. 

He closed his eyes and entered his mental space. The mental space was a place that allowed a wizard to manipulate the magical and physical connections. He tried to feel the physical connection inside the mental space.

He immediately felt every nerve that connected various parts of the body to the mind. It was a spiderweb-like connection that extended in every direction and had millions of connections. He searched for a while for the connections to eyes and limbs. He found them after some time. 

He placed a magical block in the connections to his limb as well as his eyes. Immediately, he felt the pain level reducing drastically. He tried feeling his limbs but couldn’t feel anything there. His hands were numb now. It was a similar case to his eyes.

  
  


While his eyes were closed, Harry concentrated inside his mind. He found himself in a room. His memories were floating around like a cloud. He had read in the Book that the room was just a magical visualization of the place in his mind where his memories were stored. 

He had read in the Book that he could make any change he wanted to this room. He started by envisioning the room getting bigger and bigger until the room was at least a kilometer in length and width. Next, he imagined several bookshelves in the room. Immediately, several bookshelves suddenly appeared in the room. He walked and appeared before the first Bookshelf. He imagined the current year being imprinted on the bookshelf. 

The words 1994 immediately appeared on the Bookshelf. Harry decided that this Bookshelf would denote his memories of the current year. He started imagining the memories of the first day of the year. It was January 1st, 1994. Soon all the memories of that day started flashing before his eyes. 

He willed the magic to transform the memory in a Book. Soon a Book appeared on his hand with the words January 1st imprinted on it. He kept the Book in the top row of the shelf. He had read in the Undead Book that reorganizing the memories was considered part of the Occlumency magical field.

Harry had noticed that ever since he had performed the Undead Ritual his memories were near perfect. There was no haziness in his memories. He remembered each day of his life crystal clear. The Undead Book had said that Mind Magic was an inherent magical ability of undead creatures. The Book had said that there were two main branches of the mind magic, Occlumency, and Legilimency. Occlumency was the defensive mind art that allowed the wizard to defend against mental attacks as well as keep the memories organized. 

Legilimency was used as an offensive mind art to attack the mind of the opponent. At least that was the simple explanation. Both the arts were more nuanced than that. Under the Occlumency section, the Book had described a simple way to reorganize the memories of the wizard. The Book had described a method in which memories were organized in the form of Books in a Bookshelf.

Harry continued the process of organizing the memories in the form of Books. He created the memory of each day in the form of a Book and placed it on the Bookshelf. He had completed the process for at least four months when he suddenly jolted awake.

Harry went back to his mental space and removed all the magical blocks from his nerves. He immediately felt a connection with all the parts of his body.

  
  


He sat upright in the bed and looked around. He found that his vision had returned. He looked at his hands and legs. He saw that he had his left hand as well both the legs back. Though he did notice that his left hand and his legs looked raw and felt sore. He looked around and saw that Dobby stood next to his bed.

“Dobby has come to wake up Master Harry. Dobby is very happy that Master Harry has recovered,” said the elf excitedly.

“Thank you, Dobby. You are now dismissed”

Harry stood up from the bed and stretched his body. He wore a loose robe around his body. He walked to the study table and sat on the chair beside it. He flipped the Undead Book open and started looking at the description of the Ritual again. Something had gone wrong, he just needed to find it. He read everything but nothing seemed to click. He had followed the Ritual as it was described. 

He closed his eyes and reviewed his memories of the last few hours. He viewed every moment of his memory carefully. He paused at the memory of his chanting. He reviewed each word of the chant and was shocked. He had slightly botched the pronunciation of two words from the chant. 

He cursed under his breath. He had identified the reason for the failure of the Ritual now. Just a slight mispronunciation of two words led to such a catastrophic failure. 

Harry knew he was very lucky. If a normal human wizard had the same injuries as him they would have never recovered from it. He quickly cast a Tempus charm with his wand. He noticed that four hours had passed since he had attempted the Ritual. It was afternoon currently. 

He stood up from his chair. He was going to attempt the Ritual again. Harry knew too much was at stake here. This wasn’t about the Triwizard Tournament after all. If his suspicions were correct, Voldemort may attempt to get back his body again sooner or later. Harry didn’t know how, but then he didn’t know about magic much after all. 

He knew he would have to face lots of tribulations on his journey to defeat Voldemort. The Ritual was extremely important for that reason. It would raise his memory and cognitive abilities to a level he couldn’t imagine. The dangers of the Ritual were worth the risk.

He quickly picked up some ingredients that Dobby had brought. Since Dobby had brought some extra ingredients there was still a lot of it left after the first attempt at Ritual. Harry immediately summoned all his Undead minions. The Death Knights and the Lich were kneeling in front of him after some time. 

“You all are dismissed,” said Harry and closed his eyes. He went to his mental space where he felt the connection with the three undead in front of him. He quickly cut off the connection with each of them. All of them disappeared in a mist.

Harry walked and entered the Ritual room again. The room was a mess. There was blood everywhere on the ground. Harry tried not to gag. There were pieces of flesh and bones lying around. Harry immediately cast a fire spell and started burning everything in the room apart from the room itself. After that Harry cast several scouring charms around the room to clean everything up. 

After making sure that the room was neat and tidy. He went back to performing the Ritual. He drew the Ritual pathway on the ground. After that, he arranged the same ingredients he had in the first attempt. 

Harry sat in the middle of the Ritual diagram. He was going to try to make the correct pronunciation this time around. He began chanting

_ Wyk estra ryuuk faav byssa draazz barrru swyter grtu mylosk kamil wadaru rumata rojaru swama. _

Harry sat in the middle of the circle while nothing happened for a while. After some time light left Harry’s body and started traveling through the Ritual pathway in such a way that it started glowing. Harry lost consciousness immediately.

Harry opened his eyes and saw that he was not in the Ritual Chamber. He was standing on a hill. The hill was completely covered in vegetation. He looked up and saw a clear blue sky. He was staring in the distance for some time where he heard a roar from a distance. He turned his head in the direction of the voice. 

He saw a black dot in the distance coming towards him. The dot kept getting bigger and nearer. After a while, Harry could make out the shape of the thing. It was a massive winged creature with black scales all over its body. He remembered seeing a creature like that in a muggle fantasy show. It was a dragon. It was a dragon-like creature. 

Harry hadn’t seen Dragons in the Wizarding World. Nor had he ever heard about them. But then again his knowledge about various subjects of magic including magical creatures was extremely poor. At last, the creature came to him. The creature gave out a roar. It was deafening.

The creature landed in front of him. Harry observed it. While the creature had black scales dark as night all over its body, Harry saw that the creature had red eyes. It also gave off a distinct dark aura that Harry was too familiar with. The aura of an undead. The creature in front of him was some sort of undead dragon. Harry also felt a tingling in his head. He suddenly had an urge to touch the dragon. The dragon slightly growled at him but did not move from its place.

The urge to touch the dragon grew very strong. Harry kept walking towards the dragon. Eventually, he stood very close to it. He slowly extended his hands and touched the scales of the dragon. The moment he touched the scales, he felt an intense pulling motion inside his body. The wind started blowing at an intensely fast speed. 

He tried to take his hands off the scales of the dragon but couldn’t. He felt as if the body of the dragon was getting pulled inside him. He collapsed on the knees and breathed hard. After some time he blacked out. He woke up back after some time.

  
  


He stood up suddenly. He looked around and saw that he was back in the Ritual Chamber. He thought back to whatever dream or vision he had during the ritual where he had come in contact with Undead Dragon.

He tried to remember the memories of previous months and found out that he could do that easily. He felt excited. He left the Chamber immediately and walked towards the Bedroom. He went to the Bookshelf and drew a few books from it. He immediately opened the first Book and read a few pages in it. 

He repeated the same process in different books. He put all the books back in their places. After that, he sat on one of the chairs and closed his eyes. He tried to remember the contents of the books he had just read and was surprised. He could see the exact contents of the Books by their page number and he could tell the exact line on which a particular text was mentioned. He had acquired some sort of photographic memory.

One of the Books contained a temperature manipulation charm. It was a difficult charm. The charm didn’t have specific results like a lot of charms. The wizard needed to insert his will while chanting the incantation to have a specific temperature as a result. Harry estimated this was a NEWT level charm. Harry knew the spell casting abilities of his peers very well. He knew no one in his year could cast this charm successfully. 

Not even Hermione, since this Charm required a deeper understanding of the magic instead of just chanting the incantation like a lot of other spells. From what he had observed of the fifth year students, he had deduced that there was hardly anyone worthy among them who could understand and perform such a difficult charm so easily.

But Harry knew he was different. The moment he had read about the Charm in the Book and its description. Something had just clicked in his mind. It had never happened before. It was like Harry knew exactly how to perform the spell most efficiently and in the least amount of time. Harry took a glass and filled the glass with the water conjuring spell to fill it with water. He kept the glass on the table and took out his wand.

Harry made the necessary wand moments and said the incantation 

“ **Temperatus Mutatio** ”

Harry pointed his wand at the glass of water and willed the temperature to rise a few degrees. He dipped his finger in the water and felt it considerably hotter than before. He had succeeded on the first try. Never had he succeeded before in the first try. Not only that, but he had also performed a spell that should have been far above his current ability.

Not only that but he also was having several ideas in his head about the various uses of temperature manipulation charm. The three things that were mentioned in the Ritual called  _ Cursed Wisdom, Forsaken Creativity, and Dark Intelligence  _ were all available to him now. 

The Dark Intelligence ability allowed him to remember anything he read permanently in his head without forgetting it forever and he remembered everything he had just read. The Cursed Wisdom allowed him to quickly understand the magical theory and spells and perform them successfully and he had just performed an extremely difficult spell on the first try. 

The Forsaken Creativity allowed him to make new uses of magic and he already had several ideas on the spell he had just learned. It seemed that the Ritual was a success.

He opened the Undead Book and turned to the page after the Ritual.

_ Congratulations, you have completed the Ritual. Now, during the Ritual, you must have come across some form of a creature. Anyone that does this Ritual encounters a Magical Creature in the vision. This Magical Creature represents the true nature of wizards.  _

_ This Magical creature represents the inner desire of the wizard. Since I do not know which magical creature you encountered in your vision. I cannot advise you on that topic further. The creature that you encountered in your vision is also the form of your animagus form. _

_ Now that you have completed the Creation of the Damned Trinity Ritual.  _

_ It is time to move forward. After the Ritual, you would have already noticed the extreme increase in your mental abilities. Well, those abilities are not the only ones that you get from this Ritual. There is one more. It’s called Magical Sense. Most normal human wizards and Liches already have this ability. But their ability is minimal and they can only extend the magic around them to feel for physical objects. _

_ While the ability you get from this Ritual is far beyond that. If you concentrate hard enough you can feel the magic in the air. You can see magical pathways that connect a ward stone to a physical location. You can even see ward lines extend all over a magical property. You can look at mysterious magic and get a deeper understanding of its intention. You can even look at souls to study them with Magical Sense. _

_ To study souls, one must first ensure that the container of the soul is lifeless. In the case of a Lich, a phylactery is a lifeless object containing the soul of the Lich. So for a Lich, Phylactery can be studied with Magical Sense to analyze the soul of the Lich. For Normal Human Wizards their bodies are the containers of their soul. To study the souls of normal wizards, they must be killed since Magical Sense can only analyze the souls that are in lifeless containers. _

Harry looked up from the Book. It seemed like he had an animagus form. He knew that changing into animals was possible for wizards with the help of animagus transformation. He had seen Sirius and Pettigrew transform before his eyes. But every animagus that he had seen until now was a normal animal. 

He had heard that being able to change into a magical creature was unseen by any wizard. It was assumed to be impossible. Of course, no magical rule existed that said so. But since it was not observed, everyone thought it was not possible. He was going to ignore the animagus magic until the Triwizard Tournament was over though. 

It required lots of time and effort that he simply didn’t have to spare. It seemed like he had also acquired a new sense. It was the Magical Sense according to the Book. He closed his eyes for the moment and tried to feel the magic around him. He concentrated on the magic in his body and outside his body. 

He concentrated on the magic all around him that encompassed him from all sides. At first, he didn’t feel anything, but after some time he started feeling a sort of pressure on his body. He focussed even more. He tried to extend his Magical Sense all around his body as well as outwards. Slowly he started feeling as if he was standing in the middle of the ocean. There was pressure on his body from all sides by magic. But he didn’t feel any pain or discomfort.

He opened his eyes and felt amazed. He saw magic all around him. The magic was simply an ethereal white and golden colored substance that was all around him. It had tinges of purple in it. He felt that he had truly seen magic for the first time in his life. He left the Bedroom and walked inside the Ritual Chamber. 

While walking he observed that the magic while touching his body was not hindering his path. He could walk without any hindrance. He looked around in the Ritual Chamber and was quite astonished to see all the ancient magic that was inside the Chamber. The walls of the Chamber which were covered with strange runes and glyphs were emitting waves of magic around their surroundings and also formed a protective case around the room.

He walked towards one of the walls. He touched one of the walls with his hands. He concentrated his Magical sense on a specific part of the wall. He felt strange emotions and feelings. He felt the emotion of protection. He felt a feeling of suppression around the room. He didn’t know anything about the subject of runes. But he could already tell what their meanings were using his Magical Sense.

Harry left the Ritual Chamber and entered the bedroom. He went straight to the bed. He had placed his Phylactery under the pillow on the bed. It was the safest place for the moment. He took the ring which was his Phylactery in his hands. 

It had a golden band and a red stone at its head. It was a beautiful ring but it was his Phylactery now. He closed his eyes and extended his Magical Sense to the ring. He focussed all his attention on the magic of the ring. It was some time before he felt it. It was something which called to him. It was calling to him and asking him to be whole again. 

Harry focussed even more before he felt an even stronger presence. It was his soul. It didn’t have a shape. The soul did not have a physical shape or size. It was a metaphysical existence. It was something that resided between the Realm of Living and Death. It did not belong to either side.

Harry tried to focus on the soul. Harry could not see the soul even though he could still feel it. He felt scars on it. Scars that were made long ago and scars that were made recently. There were physical scars as well as mental ones. These scars were made by his negative experiences throughout his life. Each of them had left an impression on him. 

His abuse at the hands of the Dursleys and his near-death experience each year at Hogwarts had left scars on his soul that hadn’t healed yet.

He used his Magical sense to peer further into his soul. A peek into his soul shocked him to the core. His soul was scared. It was not damaged in strict terms. But it had signs of old wounds. A soul was damaged when a person suffered from mental, emotional, or physical trauma. Harry soon learned that he hadn’t come out of his childhood unscathed. It had left deeper wounds on his soul than his experience at Hogwarts.

Each time he touched a scar with his magical sense, memories played in his mind of the particular incident attached with the specific wound. The first few scars gave him memories of his traumatic past with Dursleys. Each memory of his abuse at the hands of Dursleys brought tears to his eyes. His Undead Emotion suppressor kicked in and tried to suppress his emotions. 

But no matter how hard it tried, tears flowed out of Harry’s eyes. Harry’s face was stoic but he was still weeping from inside. His undead nature prevented him from bawling his eyes out. He watched each memory with rapt attention without trying to avoid it. It was part of his identity. Trying to run away from his past would get him nothing. He needed to face it and make his peace with it. 

He had watched all the memories of his childhood before Hogwarts and was now going to watch the memories of his time at Hogwarts. His near-death experience at the end of each year of school had been a traumatic experience for him and had left a scar. 

But the one that hurt the most was the most recent. Betrayal by his friends had left a deep scar on his soul. Harry wasn’t sure if it would ever heal. He wiped his eyes. He decided it was the last time he would ever shed tears.

He prodded his soul, even more, when he realized that he felt something foreign in it but still a part of his soul. His Magical Sense touched it and he realized what it was. It was a scar left by Voldemort’s soul. But there was something strange about it. It was different from all the other scars. He tried to analyze the scar using his Magical Sense to analyze its deeper meaning and was shocked by the result. 

The scar was imitating the innate magical abilities of Voldemort. Harry realized that Voldemort’s Horcrux was a parasite on his body. His soul had tried to fend it off unsuccessfully for many years until Harry removed the Horcrux using the Purification Ritual. But by then the Horcrux had already left a deep impression on Harry’s soul. This impression was in the form of a scar on his soul. The scar was imitating whatever magical abilities were possessed by Voldemort’s soul, and it was an integral part of Harry’s soul now.

The Soul of Wizard was a sort of a Magical Information Bank. It stored all the important details of the wizard that included the height, skin color, the length of the hair, the color of the eyes, the level of magical strength, magical abilities possessed among many others. That is how the Phylactery knows how to construct the body of the Lich and not just reincarnate the Lich in a random-looking body.

Harry suddenly had a moment of realization. He realized how he was able to speak Parseltongue without being related to Salazar Slytherin. His soul had learned how to imitate the Magical ability of Parseltongue. Harry knew that he was not the descendant of the Salazar Slytherin since he had already conducted a Potion Test which showed he had no creature blood in him. While Tom Riddle spoke Parseltongue due to being an actual descendant of Salazar Slytherin.

What this meant was that Tom Riddle was the Heir of Slytherin and had the actual ability to speak Parseltongue. While Harry’s soul just imitated the Magical Ability of Parseltongue it had learned from Riddle’s Soul. 

If Voldemort hadn’t tried to kill Harry when he was a child, Harry wouldn’t have been able to speak Parseltongue. It meant that if Tom Riddle had children, they would also be able to speak Parseltongue. While for Harry, if he had any descendants they would not be able to speak any Parseltongue. 

Harry shrugged. Parseltongue while a good ability when interacting with snakes wasn’t all that important. There were very few spells in Parseltongue available anyway. Its importance was overrated by many Dark Wizards due to their Slytherin bias. Harry also knew he would be able to speak Parseltongue. 

He couldn’t care less if his descendants would be able to speak it. His current focus was on surviving the Triwizard Tournament and preparation for his eventual confrontation with Voldemort.

Harry withdrew his Magical Senses. While he didn’t feel any physical exhaustion being undead, he still felt some sort of Mental tiredness.

Harry suddenly had an idea. He walked out of the bedroom and continued through the tunnel. He walked out of the entrance of the tunnel. Eventually, he came to the main part of the Chamber of Secrets. Above the entrance of the tunnel, Harry saw a massive face carved in the stone. Harry knew it was Salazar Slytherin’s face. He pulled his wand into his hand.

Harry closed his eyes for a minute. After he opened them, he pointed his wand at the massive stone face of Salazar Slytherin. He fired a blasting spell at the face. He instantly cast a shield spell above his head. The blasting spell ripped parts of the stone face. Some stones fell towards Harry’s head. But the Shield spell protected him. 

Harry cursed under his breath. The stone face likely was under several enchantments. It was also made up of some incredibly resilient stone. Harry had cast a nearly full-powered blasting spell on it. If the same spell was cast on some human with Harry’s incredible magical strength, Harry was sure it would result in death. 

He knew he had no choice now. Harry pointed his wand once again at the stone face. Harry breathed deeply. The next spell was the most dangerous spell Harry knew. A mistake in the casting could cause him to lose his life. At least temporarily.

Harry spoke the incantation.

“ **_Ignis Inferni_ ** ”.

It was the Fiendfyre spell. Dark and malicious fire burst forth from Harry’s wand. Harry imagined every negative emotion known to him. He imagined the wrongs done to him at the hands of Dursleys, at the Hogwarts, and many more. He channels his anger, sadness, pride inside the spell. 

The spell grew in several magnitudes when imbued with Harry’s negative emotions. The Fiend Fyre had several animals in it made of fire like chimeras, dragons and serpents, and several others. They had red eyes and malicious intent. They only had one goal. The utter destruction of whatever lied in its path. They evoked feelings of evil and chaos. The fire kept moving forward and touched the stone face of Salazar Slytherin. 

The stone face started melting and was eventually dissolved in some liquid-like substance. Harry did not stop the fire though. He had seen several stone serpent heads on both the left and right side of the Chamber which continued till the main entrance of the Chamber. Harry immediately directed the FiendFyre at them. 

The stone serpents started cracking and melting. Eventually, all the stone statues were destroyed. Harry concentrated his best and tried to impose his will on the spell. 

The Spell started rebelling against him and tried to consume him. Harry clamped down with his will and crushed the remaining malicious intent in the spell. The FiendFyre spell died pretty quickly after that. Harry breathed heavily. It was the most dangerous spell he had ever performed in his life. It didn’t matter that he was immortal. He was sure that the feeling of spell backfiring on him wouldn’t have been pleasant.

Harry looked around the room in satisfaction. He had a particular grudge against Salazar Slytherin. It was the Heir of Salazar Slytherin who had killed his parents and attempted to kill Harry himself. It was the Heir who had nearly killed Harry in his second year with the Basilisk. It was the Heir who was his biggest arch-nemesis and mortal enemy to Harry. 

It all came down to Tom Riddle. It was Riddle who had nearly killed Harry in the first year. Harry was somewhat sure that his name appearing from Goblet of Fire was part of a plot hatched by Riddle too. Then it was the students of House Slytherin who had always caused trouble for him. Malfoy and his friends had caused a lot of annoyance to him throughout his years at Hogwarts. He held a grudge for their actions against Salazar Slytherin himself. 

_ Besides Salazar Slytherin is dead. I will destroy his legacy for the actions of his Heir against me. The Chamber of Secrets does not belong to the Heir of Slytherin. It belongs to me now. Everything that belonged to Salazar Slytherin will belong to me now. I am the Heir of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter now. Everything that belonged to the House of Slytherin will eventually be assimilated to become the property of House Potter. I am the Heir of House Potter and not House Slytherin. I must oversee the increase in wealth and power of my House now. _

Harry looked ahead at the main entrance. It was a circular door that had a metallic serpent etched on it. Harry kept walking till he came very close to the circular door. He pointed his wand at the door and started casting an overpowered Heating Charm. 

The heat from the magic became so intense that the metallic serpent on the door started melting. After some time the metallic serpent had completely melted and was lying on the ground in a puddle. Harry stared at the door. He had a very poor grasp of Transfiguration. But he could still do some basic transfiguration. He pointed his wand again at the door. He chanted the incantation. 

“ **_Mutare Vellem_ ** ”.

He imagined the symbol of his House. While on his ring there was the depiction of a Skeletal Horse like creature. It was still not the symbol of House Potter. He had seen the symbol of his House in his vault at Gringotts. While he was withdrawing money, he had seen a banner lying beside some gold inside the vault. 

The banner was completely in Black with a Silver symbol on it. There was a triangle with a circle touching all sides inside it and a straight stick like in the triangle that connected the top vertice and base of the triangle. It was difficult to describe it in a few words. The symbol was in silver color. Black and Silver were the colors of his house banner. 

It was pretty similar to his Heir ring. His Heir Ring had a Silver Skeletal Horse like creature on the black gemstone. He had mistaken it for the white color the first time he had seen it. But he was sure it was silver-colored now. Harry didn’t know what the triangular like symbol or the Skeletal creature meant, but he vowed to investigate and find their meaning soon.

He willed to create the same symbol on the door that was on the banner he had seen. Slowly but steadily a new symbol came on to shape on the door. Harry stopped the spell after some time. He looked at his wandwork. The symbol was perfect. Instead of the serpent, there was a triangular shape on the door with a stick and circle inside it. _ Hmm, I wonder what this stick and circle and triangle mean. I need to explore this. _

He shook his head. He immediately summoned Dobby.

The House elf popped in front of him immediately.

“How can Dobby be serving Master Harry,” said Dobby, bouncing on its feet.

“Dobby, I have a few tasks for you. But first of all. I need you to wait here and listen.”

He looked around at the chamber and proclaimed loudly.

“I, Harry James Potter, hereby proclaim that for the crimes of members of House Slytherin against the members of House Potter. This chamber of Secrets is the property of House Potter as part of the compensation that the Slytherin family needs to provide to the Potter family due to their actions. 

Any wealth, property, inheritance, and knowledge left by any member of the Slytherin Family will be assimilated as the property of House Potter by Harry James Potter . House Slytherin can never truly atone for its sins, but it can go a long way towards it. As part of the process of absorption of Chamber of secrets into a property of House Potter, I hereby rename the Chamber of Secrets as Potter's Chamber”. Harry felt magic leaving his body and connecting to the whole chamber. It was as if magic had heard him and answered his call. He suddenly felt a connection to the Chamber as if it was his own.

“Dobby do you swear to serve House Potter to the best of your abilities. Do you swear to bring glory to the House of Potter? Do you swear to be my most faithful servant? Do you swear to do so even if it costs you your life” Harry said in an authoritative tone.

Dobby knelt on the ground on one knee and said “Dobby swears that Dobby will always faithfully serve Harry Potter and Potter Family. Dobby swears to do it even if it costs Dobby his life. Dobby swears to do his best to bring glory to House Potter.”

Immediately, Harry felt an extremely large pulse of magic connecting him and Dobby. Suddenly, Harry felt that Dobby was his most faithful servant. Harry felt that if he ordered Dobby to die, Dobby would do so happily.

“Rise Dobby, Rise. You are my most faithful servant and will always remain so. This I assure you. Now, that these things are done, let’s come to the main reason for you being summoned here.”

“Dobby as you already know, I have claimed the Chamber of Secrets as part of the property of the Potter Family for crimes of the Slytherin Family against mine. But this is not enough. I still need this place hidden. 

For that, I am going to place a Fidelius Charm on the whole place. You and I are the only people that will know the location of this place, at least for now. I will be the Secret keeper too. I am the only person that can bring anyone else here. Please stand aside Dobby.”

There were lots of books on the bookshelf in the bedroom of the Salazar Slytherin. In one of the Books, Harry had come across the Fidelius Charm. It was a pretty old charm, but a very difficult one. It was similar to Patronus Charm. Everyone knew about it, but very few could cast it. Harry already remembered the incantation due to his photographic memory.

Harry took out his wand and started chanting.

“ **_Abscondere Loco Isto''_ ** . He imagined the magic of the spell expanding and enveloping the whole place. He imagined every part of the Chamber including the main entrance and the Bedroom and The Ritual Room to be enveloped in its magic. He maintained the spell and willed the magic to choose him as the Secret Keeper. He suddenly felt a strange memory entering his mind. He stopped the spell. Fidelius Charm was finally successful. He was the Secret Keeper too.

Harry turned to Dobby and said. “Dobby the entrance to the Potter’s Chamber lies on the Girl’s Lavatory on the second floor”.

Dobby looked at him for a few seconds and nodded. After that Harry continued.

“Dobby I eventually plan to turn this whole place according to my taste. But first of all, there are a few things you need to do. You see all around the Chamber there is a lot of damage, due to which there is a lot of debris lying on the ground. I need you to clean this whole Chamber. After that, Do you see this symbol on the door? 

I need you to make a lot of banners with a black background and this symbol on top of it in Silver color. I need you to make several of these and hang them around the left and right walls of the Chamber. This is the banner of House Potter. I eventually plan to carve my face above the tunnel that you can see from here. 

There used to be a face of Salazar Slytherin there. But it will contain my face now. But that will require advanced transfiguration. The knowledge of which, I do not possess currently. Maybe I will eventually build a statue for me. Statue of someone great like me must be made.” Harry explained to Dobby in an arrogant tone.

“Master Harry, Dobby is glad to serve you. I will now begin the tasks that you have assigned to me” Dobby bowed in front of him and disappeared with a pop. Harry saw Dobby reappearing near some debris and cleaning them. He nodded and proceeded to leave for the Chamber of Secrets. He hissed when he came near the entrance. 

He had forgotten one main detail. The wards around the Chamber of Secrets prevented anyone who did not speak parseltongue from entering the Chamber. Harry decided to learn the subject of warding as soon as possible. The subject was a complex one. Its basics were covered in the subjects of Runes. 

But it was also taught as an alternative subject from the sixth year. Harry decided to change his subjects from Divination and Care of Magical creatures to Ancient Runes and Arithmancy as soon as possible. They were after all one of the most important magical subjects. He didn’t know what sort of stupidity had led him to choose Divination as a subject. __

_ Once I learn the subject of wards enough, I will remove the Parseltongue wards from around here. I cannot allow any vestiges of Slytherin’s legacy in my personal property. I have completed all the Rituals for now. I will not need to do new Rituals until I leave Hogwarts. Now, all I need to do is start preparing for the first task. _

He walked and left the Chamber of Secrets. He had been gone for more than a day. He needed to make an appearance now, lest Dumbledore started making a scene and pulled the attention of Magical Britain towards him. 

As he kept walking, he encountered several Children. Who looked at him and then looked back at him in confusion. They likely never had seen Harry Potter without glasses or that tall. Having red eyes was very rare too. So it also attracted its fair share of attention. It was close to Lunch now. He decided to go straight to the Great Hall.

Harry entered the Great Hall and started walking towards the table meant for Gryffindors. The Great Hall was already half-filled. More students were still pouring in. Harry kept walking and eventually came to the table. He sat down on the far end of the table, where there were very few students. 

He looked around and saw various people on the table that he recognized. He saw Fred and George. He also saw Angelina and Katie sitting together. He saw Ron and Hermione sitting some distance away from him. He ignored all of them and averted his eyes. His relationship with all of them was destroyed. It would likely never recover. 

They wouldn’t be Harry’s enemy. But they will not be Harry’s friend either. That boat had sailed long ago. For the first time since becoming a Lich, Harry realized he had no friends. He couldn’t call any one of the teachers his friend. Not even Dumbledore, who was more of a mentor-like figure since the beginning of his Hogwarts. 

Harry was beginning to doubt even that if he tried to analyze Dumbledore’s behavior until now. Among his classmates, he only had two friends. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Even they were no longer Harry’s friends. The rest of the classmates were just either close acquaintances or just a classmate.

Harry suddenly got a weird feeling inside him. He suddenly realized he did not need friends. He realized that he was pretty comfortable being alone. If it was Harry Potter before, he would have just caved in and would have accepted the friendship of his former friends. But this Harry was different. 

This Harry was far more selfish, cold-hearted, and ruthless. He remembered their betrayal like a fresh wound from a knife. It would take a long time to heal. But one thing was clear, he would never forgive them. He realized where this feeling was coming from. It was from inside him. He had read in the Undead Book, that Liches were pretty Individualistic Creatures. They preferred being alone. 

All animals whether normal or magical evolved to assimilate in their environment and circumstances. An animal in a cold climate was born to survive and thrive in a cold climate. An animal in a geographical area with a lack of water evolves to survive with much less water than a normal animal. 

Weaker animals in an area with lots of strong predators evolve to hunt and live in packs and herds. It was a pretty similar case for Liches as well. Liches were Dark Magical Creatures. They were not humans. 

Liches were also immortal and had to live alone or far off from normal civilization due to stigma and fear of their nature in normal humans. These allowed the magic that governs the Liches to allow them to be comfortable being alone for a prolonged period and enjoy the solitude. Liches evolved to enjoy loneliness because that was what most of them ever encountered.

Harry shrugged and piled some food on the table. Food was an interesting topic for him. He knew he did not need any food ever in his life. He was curious about what happened to the food he ate. To experiment he picked up some food from the table and ate it. 

He cleaned his plate. He could taste the food. But it did nothing to the stomach and digestive system. He did not feel full as if he would after eating, but he did not feel any hunger too. It seemed most likely that any food consumed by him was destroyed by magic inside his stomach.

  
  


He was staring off in the distance when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. He looked in the direction of the person who had touched him. It was Fred and George. They were looking at him in confusion. They sat beside him. Fred began

“You are Harry, right? Harry Potter, what happened to your glasses and whatever happened to your body. You look much taller now. Your eyes are weird too. I don’t remember you having red eyes.” Fred rambled on.

Harry looked at him for some time and then said

“Yes, I am Harry Potter. I look different but I am still the same Harry Potter.....”

“How has your face changed?  _ Why  _ did change your looks” George asked

“Look, as I said this is difficult to explain. Maybe I will explain it to you some other time. I don’t owe an explanation to anyone.” Harry spoke in a rough tone. He gave both the Weasleys a stern look. He was beginning to get angry when suddenly he felt his emotion suppressors kicking in. All the extreme emotions vanished from within him immediately. They looked abashed and quickly left. He saw that the rest of the Gryffindor was staring at him. He looked around and saw that many students of other Houses were pointing at him and whispering to each other. _ Great, I should have expected this.  _

_ The Famous Harry Potter cannot do a single thing without getting the attention of the rest of the Wizarding World. _ He looked at the place where all Professors were sitting. He saw them staring at him with rapt attention. Dumbledore in particular looked like someone had stolen something from him. He looked at Harry as if he was completely unaware of what had happened to his favorite student. The Old man was staring at Harry with an open mouth.

Harry saw Snape staring at him furiously. Harry was not sure what had he ever done to make the man angry. Snape was always angry at him. McGonagall and Flitwick were staring at him curiously and whispering to each other. Other teachers were also occasionally sneaking glances at him. It seemed that he was the main attraction of the zoo today. 

This amount of staring and whispering was making him furious. He noticed Snape standing up from his table and approaching him. He noticed Snape taking long strides and finally stopping in front of him.

“Potter, you dunderhead, What have you done to yourself? What happened to your face. What sort of magic did you use to change your face. Where are your glasses? Potter, if this is a prank, then you will be sorry ” Snape barked out

“Professor Snape, this is not a prank. This is how I look now. I performed some magic on myself to heal myself. I have not used any spell or potion to change my appearance temporarily. This look is permanent. As I told you I used a specific form of magic to heal myself, due to that my eyesight was also healed. That’s why I don’t wear glasses.”

“Very well. Even though I am not satisfied with your answers. It will have to do for the moment. Your demeanor does not suggest this is a prank. After the dinner is done. You will come directly to the office of the headmaster. It's not a request but an order. Treat it as such. There we will discuss in length the new circumstances you have found yourself in.” Snape said with clenched teeth and strode off with his robes bellowing.

Harry stared at a wall in the distance. It seemed like he was in for a long night.

**Author’s Notes:-**

**I don’t like how in many Dark Harry stories, Harry starts revering Slytherin just because he was a Dark Wizard. Here, I wanted to do something different.**


End file.
